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INSECTS 



INJURIOUS TO 



YEGETATION, 



TREATISE 



ON SOME OF THE 



INSECTS OF NEW ENGLAND 



WHICH ARE 



INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



By THADDEUS WILLIAM HARRIS, M. D. 



:i:o:nA.v 



SECOND EDITION. 









V GN'^^V*- 



BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY WHITE & POTTER. 



/ 



1852. 






^ 



'b* 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the j'ear 1852, by 

THADDEUS WILLI AM HARRIS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 



QhAy 



PREFACE. 



The first edition of this work was printed in the year 1841. It formed 
one of the scientific Reports, which were prepared and published by 
the Commissioners on the Zoological and Botanical Survey of Massa- 
chusetts, agreeably to an order of the General Court, and at the ex- 
pense of the State. The Commission for this Survey bore the date 
of June 10th, 1837 ; and the following instructions from his Excel- 
lency, Governor Everett, accompanied it : 

" It is presumed to have been a leading object of the Legislature, 
in authorizing this Survey, to promote the agricultural benefit of the 
Commonwealth, and you will keep carefully in view the economical 
relations of every subject of your enquiry. By this, however, it is 
not intended that scientific order, method, or comprehension, should 
be departed from. At the same time, that which is practically use- 
ful will receive a proportionally greater share of attention, than that 
which is merely curious ; the promotion of comfort and happiness 
being the great human end of all science." 

Upon a division of duties among the Commissioners, the depart- 
ment of Insects was assigned to me. Some idea of the extent of 
this department may be formed by an examination of my Catalogues 
of the Insects of Massachusetts, appended to the first and second 
editions of Professor Hitchcock's Report, in which above 2300 spe- 
cies were enumerated ; and these doubtless fall very far short of 
the actual number to be found within this Commonwealth. In en- 
tering upon my duty, I was deterred from attempting to describe all 
these insects by the magnitude of the undertaking, and by the con- 
sideration that such a work, much as it might promote the cause of 
science, if well done, could not be expected to prove either inter- 
esting or particularly useful to the great body of the people. The 



vi PREFACE. 

subject and the plan of my Report were suggested by the instruc- 
tions of the Governor, and by the want of a work, combining sci- 
entific and practical details on the natural history of our noxious 
insects. From among such of the latter as are injurious to plants, 
I selected for description chiefly those that were remarkable for their 
size, for the peculiarity of their structure and habits, or for the ex- 
tent of their ravages ; and these, alone, will be seen to constitute a 
formidable host. As they are found not only in Massachusetts, but 
throughout New England, and indeed in most parts of the United 
States, the propriety of giving to the work a more comprehensive 
title than it first bore, becomes apparent. This was accordingly 
done in the small impression, that was printed at my own charge, 
while the original Report was passing through the press, and in 
which some other alterations were made to fit it for a wider circu- 
lation. 

In the course of eight years, all the copies of the Report, and 
of the other impression, were entirely disposed of. Meanwhile, 
some materials for a new edition were collected, and these have 
been embodied in the present work, ^vhich I have been called upon 
to prepare and carry through the press. 

Believing that the aid of science tends greatly to improve the 
condition of any people engaged in agriculture and horticulture, and 
that these pursuits form the basis of our prosperity, and are the 
safeguards of our liberty and independence, I have felt it to be my 
duty, in treating the subject assigned to me, to endeavor to make it 
useful and acceptable to those persons whose honorable employment 
is the cultivation of the soil. 



T. W. H. 

Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 15, 1852, 



« 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The word Insect defined, — Brain and Nerves, — Air-pipes and Breathing- 
holes, — Heart and Blood, 3. — Insects are produced from Eggs, 3. — Meta- 
morphoses, — Examples of Complete Transformation, 4. — Partial Transfor- 
mation, 5. — Larva or Infant State, Pupa or Intermediate State, Adult or 
Winged State, 6. — Head, Eyes, Antennae, and Mouth, 7. — Thorax or 
Chest, Wings, and Legs, — Abdomen or Hind body, 8. — Piercer and Sting, 
8. — Number of Insects compared with that of plants. — Classification, Or- 
ders, — Coleoptera, 9. — Orthoptera, Hemiptera, 10. — Neuroptera, Lepido- 
ptera, Hymenoptera, 11. — Diptera, 13. — Other Orders and Groups, 15. — 
Remarks on Scientific Names, 17. 

COLEOPTERA. 

Beetles, — Scarabsians, 20. — Ground-Beetles, Tree-Beetles, 21. — Cockcha- 
fers or May-Beetles, 22. — Flower-Beetles, 34. — Stag-Beetles, 37. — Bu- 
prestians, or Saw-horned Borers, 39. — Spring-Beetles, 45. — Timber-Beetles, 
50. — Weevils, 52. — Cylindrical Bark-Beetles, 74. — Capricorn-Beetles, or 
Long-horned Borers, 82. — Leaf-Beetles, 103. — Criocerians, 104.— Leaf- 
mining Beetles, 105. — Tortoise-Beetles, 107. — Chrysomelians, 108. — Can- 
tharides, 119. 

ORTHOPTERA. 
Structure and Transformations, 125. — Earwigs, 127. — Cockroaches, 128. — 
Mantes, or Soothsayers, 129. — Walking Leaves, Spectres, — Crickets, 129. 
— Mole-Cricket, 131. — Field-Crickets, 132. — Climbing-Crickets, 134.— 
Grasshoppers, 136. — Wingless Cricket, 136. — Katy-did, 138. — Locusts, 
or Flying Grasshoppers, 143. 

HEMIPTERA. 

Bugs, 167. — Squash-Bug, 169. — Chinch-Bug, 172. — Plant-Bugs, 173.— 
Harvest-Flies, 177. — Cicadas, 178. — Tree-Hoppers, 191. — Leaf-Hoppers, 
196. — Vine-Hopper, 197. — Rose-Hopper, 199. — Bean- Hopper, 200.— 
Aphidians, 201. — Psylla, 201. — Thrips, 204. — Plant-Lice, 205. — Ameri- 
can Blight, 211. — Enemies of Plant-Lice, 214. — Bark-Lice, 217. 



yiii CONTENTS. 

LEPIDOPTERA. 

Caterpillars, 225. — Butterflies, 229. — Skippers, 242. — Ilawk-Moth?, 2 15. — 
Mgehans, or Boring Caterpillars, 251. — Glaucopidians, 257. — Moths, 259. 
— Spinners, Lithosians, 261. — Tiger-Moths and Ermine-Moths, 263.— 
Tussock-Moths, 281. — Lackey-Moths, 286. — Lappet-Moths, 292. — Satur- 
nians, 295. — Ceratocampians, 306. — Carpenter-Motlis, 310. — Psychians, 
318. — Notodontians, 321. — Owl-Moths, 335. — Spindle-Wonns, 339.— 
Cut-Worms, 341. — Wheat-Worm or Wheat-Caterpillar, 353. — Geometers 
or Span-Worms, 356. — Canker-Worms, 359. — Delta-Moths, 371. — Leaf- 
Rollers, 374. — Bud-Moths, 376. — Fruit-Moths, 379. — Tinea;, 382. — Bee- 
Moths, 384. — Clothes-Moths, 387. — Grain-Motiis, 390. — Feather-winged 
Moths, 403. 

HYMENOPTERA. 

Stingers and Piercers, 404. — Habits of some of the Ilymenopterous Insects, 
405. — Saw-Flies, 407. — False Caterpillars and Slugs, 408. — Elm Saw- 
Fly, 409. — Fir Saw-Fly, 411. — Vine Saw-Fly, 413. — Rose-bush Slug, 
415. _ Pear-tree Slug, 418. — Horn-tailed Wood- Wasps, 422, — Four- 
winged Gall-Flies, 431. — Chalcidians, 436. — Barley Insect, 437. — Joint- 
Worm, 441. 

DIPTERA. 

Gnats and Flies, 447. — Maggots, and their Transformations, 448. — Gall- 
Gnats, 450. — Hessian Fly, 452. — Wheat-Fly, 470. — Club-footed Gnat, 
481. — Snow-Gnat, 482. — Black Fly, Midges, 482. — Horse-Flies, 483.— 
Bee-Flies, 484. — Asilians, 485. — Soldier-Flies, 487. — Syrphians, 488.— 
Conopians, 489. — Parasitical Flies, 490. — Viviparous Flesh-Flies, 491. — 
Piercing Stable-Flies, 491. — Meat-Flies and House-Flies, 492. — Flower- 
Flies, 493. — Dung-Flies, 495. — Two-winged Gall-Flies, and Fruit-Flics, 
497. _ Oscinians, 498. — Bot-Flies, 499. — Bird-Flies and Spider-Fli«?s, 501. 
— Flea, 501. 

INDEX, 503 



CORIIECTION S 



Pago 47, line 3, for states read state. 

" 54, " 28, /b?- Gleditsia j-carf Gleditschia. 

" 119, " 19, for Cnjtoccphalus rea.d Cri/piocephahts. 

" 145, note, for Revelations read llevclation. 

" 169, line 31, insert aperiod after bug. 

" 192, " 38, _/br grouud rcfta ground. 

" 233, " 12, for scolloped read scalloped. 

" 235, " 29, ybr A'obott's jwrf Abbot's. 

" 261, " 32, for Glmwosis read Olaur.opia. 

" 266, " 5, for llesh white read flesli-white. 

" 311, " 4, for bofore read before. 

" 359, " 25, /or ege rmrf edge. 

" 384, " 11, "/or differs rearf differ. 

" 394, " 12, ybr bearded »-e«rf beaded. 



INSECTS 



INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION, 



INTRODUCTION. 

Insect defined. — Bkain and Nerves. — Air-pifes and Breathing-holes. — 
Heart and Blood. — Insects are produced trom Eggs. — Metamorphoses, 
OR Transformations. — Examples of Complete Transformation. — Partial 
Transformation. — Lakva, or Infant State. — Pupa, or Intermediate 
State. — Adult, or Winged State. — Head, Eyes, Antenn.^, and Mouth. 
— Thorax or Chest, Wings, and Legs. — Abdomen or Hind-body, Piercer, 
AND Sting. — Number of Insects compared with Plants. — Classification. 
Orders. Coleoptera. Orthoptera. Hemiptera. Neuroptera. Lepido- 
PTERA. Hymenoptera. Diptera. Otiier Orders and Groups. — Remarks 
ON Scientific Names. 

The benefits which we derive from insects, though neither few 
in number nor inconsiderable in amount, are, if we except 
those of the silk-worm, the bee, and the cochenille, not very 
obvious, and are almost entirely beyond our influence. On the 
contrary, the injuries that we suffer from them are becoming 
yearly more apparent, and are more or less within our control. 
A familiar acquaintance with our insect enemies and friends, 
in all their forms and disguises, will afford us much help in the 
discovery and proper application of the remedies for the depre- 
dations of the former, and will tend to remove the repugnance 
wherewith the latter are commonly regarded. 

Destructive insects have then* appointed tasks, and are lim- 
ited in the performance of them; they are exposed to many 
accidents through the influence of the elements, and they fall 
a prey to numerous animals, many of them also of the insect 
race, which, while they fulfil their own part in the economy of 
1 



2 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

nature, contribute to prevent the undue increase of the noxious 
tribes. Too often, by an unwise interference with the plan of 
Providence, we defeat the very measures contrived for our 
protection. We not only suffer from our own carelessness, 
but through ignorance fall into many mistakes. Civilization 
and cultivation, in many cases, have destroyed the balance 
originally existing between plants and insects, and between 
the latter and other animals. Deprived of their natural food 
by the removal of the forest-trees and shrubs, and the other 
indigenous plants that once covered the soil, insects have now 
no other resource than the cultivated plants that have taken 
the place of the original vegetation. The destruction of insect- 
eating animals, whether quadrupeds, birds, or reptiles, has 
doubtless tended greatly to the increase of insects. Coloniza- 
tion and commerce have, to some extent, introduced foreign 
insects into countries where they were before unknown. It is 
to such causes as these, that we are to attribute the unwelcome 
/ appearance and the undue multiplication of many insects in 
our cultivated grounds, and even in our store-houses and 
dwellings. We have no reason to believe that any absolutely 
new insects are generated or created from time to time. The 
supposed new species, made known to us first by their un- 
wonted depredations, may have come to us from other parts, 
or may have been driven by the hand of improvement from 
their native haunts, where heretofore the race had lived in 
obsciuity, and thus had escaped the notice of man. 

To understand the relations that insects bear to each other 
and to other objects, and to learn how best to check the ravages 
of the noxious tribes, we must make ourselves thoroughly 
acquainted with the natural history of these animals. This 
subject is particularly important to all persons who are inter- 
ested in agricultm-al pursuits. For their use, chiefly, this 
account of the principal insects that are injurious to vegetation 
in New England, has been prepared. It has been thought best 
to prefix thereto some remarks on the structure and classifica- 
tion of insects, to serve as an introduction to the succeeding 
chapters, and, in some measure, to supply the want of a more 
general and cornplete work on this branch of natural history. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

The word Insect, which, in the Latin language, from whence 
it was derived, means cut into or notched, was designed to 
express one of the chief characters of this group of animals, 
whose body is marked by several cross-lines or incisions. The 
parts between these cross-lines are called segments, or rings, 
and consist of a number of jointed pieces, more or less movable 
on each other. 

Insects have a very small brain, and, instead of a spinal 
marrow, a kind of knotted cord, extending from the brain to 
the hinder extremity ; and numerous small whitish threads, 
which are the nerves, spread from the brain and knots, in 
various directions. Two long air-pipes, within their bodies, 
together with an immense number of smaller pipes, supply the 
want of lungs, and caiTv the air to every part. Insects do not 
breathe through their mouths, but through little holes, called 
spiracles, generally nine in number, along each side of the 
body. Some, however, have the breathing-holes placed in the 
hinder extremity, and a few young water-insects breathe by 
means of gills. The heart is a long tube, lying under the skin 
of the baclv, having little holes on each side for the admission 
of the juices of the body, which are prevented from escaping 
again by valves or clappers, formed to close the holes within. 
Moreover, this tubular heart is divided into several chambers, 
by transverse partitions, in each of which there is a hole shut 
by a valve, which allows the blood to flow only from the hinder 
to the fore part of the heart, and prevents it from passing in 
the contrary direction. The blood, which is a colorless or yel- 
lowish fluid, does not circulate in proper arteries and veins ; 
but is driven from the fore part of the heart into the head, and 
thence escapes into the body, where it is mingled with the 
nutritive juices that filter through the sides of the intestines, 
and the mingled fluid penetrates the crevices among the flesh 
and other internal parts, flowing along the sides of the air- 
pipes, whereby it receives from the air that influence which 
renders it fitted to nourish the frame and maintain life. 

Insects are never spontaneously generated from putrid animal 
or vegetable matter, but are produced from eggs. A few, such 
as some plant-lice, do not lay their eggs, but retain them within 



4 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

their bodies till the young are ready to escape. Others inva- 
riably lay their eggs where their young, as soon as they are 
hatched, will find a plentiful supply of food immediately within 
their reach. 

Most insects, in the course of their lives, are subject to very 
great changes of form, attended by equally remarkable changes 
in their habits and propensities. These changes, transforma- 
tions, or metamorphoses^ as they are called, might cause the 
same insect, at different ages, to be mistaken for as many 
different animals. For example, a caterpillar, after feeding 
upon leaves till it is fully groMai, retires into some place of 
concealment, casts off its caterpillar-skin, and presents itself in 
an entirely different form, one wherein it has neither the power 
of moving about, nor of taking food ; in fact, in this its second 
or chrysalis state, the insect seems to be a lifeless oblong oval 
or conical body, without a distinct head, or movable limbs ; 
after resting awhile, an inward struggle begins, the chrysalis- 
skin bursts open, and from the rent issues a butterfly, or a moth, 
whose small and flabby wings soon extend and harden, and 
become fitted to bear away the insect in search of the honeyed 
juice of flowers and other liquids that suffice for its nourishment. 

The little fish-like animals that swim about in vessels of 
stagnant water, and devour the living atoms that swarm in the 
same situations, soon come to maturity, cast their skins, and 
take another form, wherein they remain rolled up like a ball, 
and either float at the surface of the water, for the purpose of 
breathing through the trwo tunnel-shaped tubes on the top of 
their backs, or, if disturbed, suddenly uncurl their bodies, and 
whirl over and over from one side of the vessel to the other. 
In the course of a few days these little water-tumblers are 
ready for another transformation ; the skin splits on the back 
between the breathing-tubes, the head, body, and limbs of a 
mosquito suddenly burst from the opening, the slender legs 
rest on the empty skin till the latter fills with water and sinks, 
when the insect abandons its native element, spreads its tiny 
wings, and flies away, piping its war-note, and thirsting for 
the blood which its natural weapons enable it to draw from its 
unlucky victims. 



INTRODrCTION. 5 

The fall-fed maofsoT, that has rioted in filth till its tender 
skin seems ready to burst with repletion, T\'hen the appointed 
time arrives, leaves the offensive matters it ^vas ordained to 
assist in removing, and gets into some convenient hole or 
crevice ; then its body contracts or shortens, and becomes egg- 
shaped, while the skin hardens, and turns brown and dry. so 
that, tmder this form, the creature appears more like a seed 
than a living animal : after some time passed in this inactive 
and equivocal form, during which vconderful changes have 
taken place w^ithin the seed-like shell, one end of the shell is 
forced off. and from the inside comes forth a buzzing fly, that 
drops its fonner filthy habits -^-ith its cast-off dress, and now, 
A;\'ith a more refined taste, seeks only to lap the solid %-iands of 
oiu" tables, or sip the liquid contents of our cups. 

Caterpillars, grubs, and maggots midergo a complete trans- 
formation in coming to maturity ; but there are other insects, 
such as crickets, grasshoppers, bugs, and plant-lice, which, 
though differing a good deal in the young and adult states, are 
not subject to so great a change, their transformations being 
only partial. For instance, the young grasshopper comes from 
the ess a "wingless insect, and consequently unable to move 
from place to place in any other way than by the use of its 
legs; as it grows larger it is soon obliged to cast ofi" its skin, 
and, after one or two moultings, its body not only increases in 
size, but becomes proportionally longer than before, wliile little 
stump-like wings begin to make their appearance on the top of 
the back. After this, the grasshopper continues to eat vora- 
ciously, gro^vs larger and larger, and hops about without any 
aid from its short and motionless livings, repeatedly casts off its 
outgrown skin, appearing each time ^\"ith still longer wings, 
and more perfectly formed limbs, till at length it ceases to grow, 
and, shedding its skin for the last time, it comes forth a perfectly 
formed and matiire grasshopper, with the power of spreading 
its ample wings, and of using them in flight. 

Hence there are three periods in the life of an insect, more 
or less distinctly marked by corresponding changes in the form, 
powers, and habits. Li the first, or period of infancy, an insect 
is technicallv called a larva, a T\'ord siofnifvinsr a mask, because 



6 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

therein its future form is more or less masked or concealed. 
This name is not only applied to grubs, caterpillars, and 
maggots, and to other insects that undergo a complete trans- 
formation, bvit also to young and wingless grasshoppers, and 
bugs, and indeed to aU young insects before the wings begin 
to appear. In this first period, which is generally much the 
longest, insects are always wingless, pass most of then- time in 
eating, grow rapidly, and usually cast off their skins repeatedly. 
The second period, wherein those insects that undergo a partial 
transformation, retain their activity and their appetites for food, 
continue to grow, and acquire the rudiments of wings, while 
others, at this age, entirely lose thek larva form, take no food, 
and remain at rest in a deathlike sleep, — is called the pvpa 
state, from a slight resemblance that some of the latter present 
to an infant trussed in bandages, as was the fashion among 
the Romans. The pupse from caterpillars, however, are more 
commonly called chrysalids, because some of them, as the name 
implies, are gilt or adorned with golden spots ; and grubs, after 
their first transformation, are often named nymphs, for what 
reason does not appear. At the end of the second period, 
insects again shed their skins, and come forth fully grown, and 
(with few exceptions) provided with wings. They thus enter 
upon their last or adult state, wherein they no longer increase 
in size, and during which they provide for a continuation of 
their kind. This period usually lasts only a short time, for 
most insects die immediately after their eggs are laid. Bees, 
wasps, and ants, however, which live in society, and labor 
together for the common good of their communities, continue 
much longer in the adult state. 

In winged or adult insects, two of the transverse incisions, 
with which they are marked, are deeper than the rest, so that 
the body seems to consist of three principal portions, the first 
whereof is the head, the second or middle portion the thorax, 
or chest, and the third or hindmost the abdomen, or hind-body. 
In some wingless insects these three portions are also to be 
seen ; but in most young insects, or larvae, the body consists of 
the head, and a series of twelve rings or segments, the thorax 
not being distinctly separated from the hinder part of the body, 
as may be perceived in caterpillars, grubs, and maggots. 



INTRODUCTIOX. 7 

The eyes of adult insects, though apparently two in number, 
are compound, each consisting of a great number of single eyes 
closely united together, and incapable of being rolled in their 
sockets. Such also are the eyes of the larvae, and of the active 
puptp of those insects that undergo an imperfect transformation. 
Moreover, many winged insects have one, two, or three little 
single eyes, placed near each other on the crown of the head, 
and called ocelli, or eyelets. The eyes of grubs, caterpillars, 
and of other completely transforming larva?, are not compound, 
but consist of five or six eyelets clustered together, without 
touching, on each side of the head; some, however, such as 
maggots, are totally blind. Near to the eyes are two jointed 
members, named antenncB, corresponding, for the most part, in 
situation, wdth the ears of other animals, and supposed to be 
connected with the sense of hearing, of touch, or of both united. 
The antennae are very short in larvae, and of variovis sizes and 
forms in other insects. 

The mouth of some insects is made for biting or chewing, 
that of others for taking food only by suction. The biting- 
insects have the parts of the mouth variously modified to suit 
the nature of the food; and these parts are, an upper and an 
under lip, two nippers or jaws on each side, moving sidewise, 
and not up and down, and four or six little jointed members, 
called palpi or feelers, whereof two. belong to the lower lip, and 
one or two to each of the lower jaws. The mouth of sucking- 
insects consists essentially of these same parts, but so different 
in their shape and in the purposes for which they are designed, 
that the resemblance between them and those of biting-insects 
is not easily recognized. Thus the jaws of caterpillars are 
transformed to a spiral sucking-tube in butterflies and moths, 
and those of maggots to a hard proboscis, fitted for piercing, as 
in the mosquito and horse-fly, or to one of softer consistence, 
and ending with fleshy lips for lapping, as in common flies ; 
while in bugs, plant-lice, and some other insects resembling 
them, the parts of the mouth undergo no essential change from 
infancy to the adult state, but are formed into a long, hard, 
and jointed beak, bent under the breast when not in use, and 
designed only for making punctures and drawing in liquid 
nourishment. 



8 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The parts belonging to the thorax are the wings and the 
legs. The former are two or four in number, and vary greatly 
in form and consistence, in the situation of the wing-bones or 
veins, as they are generally called, and in their position or the 
manner in which they are closed or folded when at rest. The 
under-side of the thorax is the breast, and to this are fixed the 
legs, which are six in number in adult insects, and in the larvae 
and pupsB of those that are subject only to a partial transfor- 
mation. The parts of the legs are the hip-joint, by which the 
leg is fastened to the body, the thigh, the shank (tibia), and the 
foot, the latter consisting sometimes of one joint only, more 
often of two, three, four, or five pieces (tarsi), connected end to 
end, like tlie joints of the finger, and armed at the extremity 
with one or two claws. Of the larva? that undergo a complete 
transformation, maggots and some others are destitute of legs; 
many grubs have six, namely, a pair beneath the under-side of 
the first three segments, and sometimes an additional fleshy 
prop-leg under the hindmost extremity ; caterpillars and false 
caterpillars have, besides the six true legs attached to the first 
three rings, several fleshy prop-like legs, amounting sometimes 
to ten or sixteen in number, placed in pairs beneath the other 
segments. 

The abdomen, or hindmost, and, as to size, the principal part 
of the body, contains the organs of digestion, and other internal 
parts, and to it also belong the piercer and the sting with which 
many winged or adult insects are provided. The piercer is 
sometimes only a flexible or a jointed tube, capable of being 
thrust out of the end of the body, and is used for conducting 
the eggs into the crevices or holes where they are to be laid. 
In some other insects it consists of a kind of scabbard, con- 
taining a central borer, or instruments like saws, designed for 
making holes wherein the eggs are to be inserted. The sting, 
in like manner, consists of a sheath enclosing a sharp instrument 
for inflicting wounds, connected wherewith in the inside of the 
body is a bag of venom or poison. The parts belonging to the 
abdomen of larvae are various, but are mostly designed to aid 
them in thek motions, or to provide for their respiration. 

An English entomologist has stated, that, on an average, 
there are six distinct insects to one plant. This proportion is 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

probably too great for our country, where vast tracts are covered 
with forests, and the other oi'iginal vegetable races still hold 
possession of the soil. There are above 1200 flowering plants 
in Massachusetts, and it will be within bounds to estimate the 
species of insects at 4800, or in the proportion of four to one 
plant. To facilitate the stu.dy of such an immense number, 
some kind of classification is necessary; it will be useful to 
adopt one, even in describing the few species now before us. 
The basis of this classification is founded upon the structure 
of the mouth, in the adult state, the number and nature of the 
wings, and the transformations. The first great divisions are 
called orders, of which the following seven are very generally 
adopted by naturalists. 

1, — CoLEOPTERA (Beetles). Insects with jaws, two thick 
wing-covers meeting in a straight line on the top of the back, 
and two filmy wings, which are folded transversely. Trans- 
formation complete. Larva?, called grubs, generally provided 
with six true legs, and sometimes also with a terminal prop-leg ; 
more rarely without legs. Pupa with the wings and the legs 
distinct and unconfined. 

Many of these insects, particularly in the larva state, are very injuri- 
ous to vegetation. The tiger-beetles (Cicindeladce*), the predaceous 
ground-beetles (Carahidce), the diving-beetles {Bytiscidce)., the lady-birds 
{Coccinelladcp), and some others, are eminently serviceable by preying 
upon caterpillars, planl-lice, and other noxious or destructive insects. 
The water-lovers (Hi/drnphilida;), rove-beetles {Sfaphylinidcr), carrion- 
beetles { SiJphad(T) , sk\n-heet\es (Dermcsladcp, Bi/rrhidcr, and Trogidce), 
bone-beetles (some of the Nit.iduJadce and Cleridcr), and various kinds 
of dung-beetles [SphcBridiada;, Histerid(T, Geotrupidaf, CoprididcFf, 
and Aphodiadcef) , and clocks (Pimeliadcs and Blapl.idce), act the useful 
part of scavengers, by removing carrion, dung, and other filth, upon 
which alone they and their larvae subsist. Many Coleoptera (some 
Staphylinidce and NitiduJadce, Diaperididce, some Serropalpidoi, Mi/ce- 

* See the Catalogue of Insects appended to Professor Hitchcock's Report on 
the Geology, Mineralogy, liotauy, and Zoology of Massachusetts. 2d edit. 8vo. 
Amherst. 1835. 

t All the Scarabaeidce of my Catalogue, from Ateiichus to Gcotrupes inclusive, 
to which may be added many included in the geniis Scaraba-us. 

2 



10 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

iophagidcB, Erotylidce^ and Endomyckidcc) live altogether on agarics, 
mushrooms, and toadstools, plants of very little use to man, many of 
them poisonous, and in a state of decay often offensive; these fungus- 
eaters are therefore to be reckoned among our friends. There are 
others, such as the stag-beetles {Lucanidce), some spring-beetles 
(Elateindce), darkling-beetles {Tenehrio7iidce), and many bark-beetles 
(HelopidcB, CisteladcB, Serropalpidce, (Edemeradce, Cucujadce, and some 
Trogositadce), which, living under the bark and in the trunks and roots 
of old trees, though they may occasionally prove injurious, must, on the 
whole, be considered as serviceable, by contributing to destroy, and 
reduce to dust, plants that have passed their prime and are fast going 
to decay. And, lastly, the blistering-beetles {Cantharididce) have, for 
a long time, been employed with great benefit in the healing art. 

2. — Orthoptera (Cockroaches, Crickets, Grasshoppers, 8fC.). 
Insects with jaws, two rather thick and opake upper wings, 
overlapping a little on the back, and two larger, thin wings, 
which are folded in plaits, like a fan. Transformation partial. 
LarvfE and pupae active, but wanting wings. 

All of the insects of this order, except the camel-crickets (Mantidce), 
which prey on other insects, are injurious to our household possessions, 
or destructive to vegetation. 

3. — Hemiptera (Bvg-s, Locusts, Plant-lice, Sfc). Insects 
with a horny beak for suction, foiu* wings, whereof the upper- 
most are generally thick at the base, with thinner extremities, 
which lie flat, and cross each other on the top of the back, or 
are of uniform thickness throughout, and slope at the sides 
like a roof. Transformation partial. LarvsB and pupae nearly 
like the adult insect, but wanting wings. 

The various kinds of field and house bugs give out a strong and disa- 
greeable smell. Many of them (some Pentalomadcz and Lygceidcn, 
Cimicida;, Reduviadce, Hydrometradce, Nepadce, and Notonectada;,) 
live entirely on the juices of animals, and by this means destroy great 
numbers of noxious insects ; some arc of much service in the arts, 
affording us the costly cochineal, scarlet grain, lac, and manna ; but 
the benefits derived from these are more than counterbalanced by the 
injuries committed by the domestic kinds, and by the numerous tribes 
of plant-bugs, locusts or cicada?, tree-hoppers, plant-lice, bark-lice, 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

mealy bugs, and the like, that suck the juices of plants, and require the 
greatest care and watchfulness on our part to keep them in check. 

4. — Neuroptera [Dragon-files, Lace-winged files ; May-fiies, 
Ant-lion, Day-fiy, Wliite ants, Sfc.). Insects with jaws, four 
netted wings, of which the hinder ones are the largest, and no 
sting or piercer. Transformation complete, or partial. Larva 
and pupa various. 

The white ants, wood-lice, and wood-ticks (Termitida: and Psocidce), 
the latter including also the little ominous death-watch, are almost the 
only noxious insects in the order, and even these do not injure living 
plants. The dragon-flies, or, as they are commonly called in this 
country, devil's needles (Libelluladcc), prey upon gnats and mosquitos ; 
and their larvae and pupa5, as well as those of the day-flies {Ephemeradce), 
semblians (Semhlididce), and those of some of the May-flies, called 
cadis-worms (Phryganeadce) , all of which live in the water, devour 
aquatic insects. The predaceous habits of the ant-lions [Myrmclcon- 
tidcp) have been often described. The lace-winged flies [Hemerohiadcr)^ 
in the larva state, live wholly on plant-lice, great numbers of which they 
destroy. The mantispians (Mantispadcr), and the scorpion-flies {Panor- 
padcc), are also predaceous insects. 

5. — Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths). Mouth with a 
spu'al sucking-tube; wings four, covered wdth branny scales. 
Transformation complete. The larvae are caterpillars, and 
have sbc true legs, and from four to ten fleshy prop-legs. Pupa 
with the cases of the wings and of the legs indistinct, and 
soldered to the breast. 

Some kinds of caterpillars are domestic pests, and devour cloth, wool, 
furs, feathers, wax, lard, flour, and the like ; but by far the greatest 
number live wholly on vegetable food, certain kinds being exclusively 
leaf-eaters, while others attack the buds, fruit, seeds, bark, pith, stems, 
and roots of plants. 

6. — Hymenoptera {Saiu-fiies, Ants, Wasps, Bees, Sfc). In- 
sects with jaws, four veined wings, in most species, the hinder 
pair being the smallest, and a piercer or sting at the extremity 
of the abdomen. Transformation complete. Larvae mostly 
maggot-like, or slug-like ; of some, caterpillar-like. Pupae with 
the legs and wings unconfined. 



12 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

In the adult state these insects live chiefly on the honey and pollen of 
flowers, and the juices of fruits. The larva) of the saw-flies {Tenihre- 
dinidce), under the form of false-caterpillars and slugs, are leaf-eaters, 
and are oftentimes productive of much injury to plants. The larvse of 
the xiphydrians (Xiphydriadce), and of the horn-tails (Urocerida:), are 
borers and wood-eaters, and consequently injurious to the plants inhab- 
ited by them. Pines and firs suiTer most from their attacks. Some of 
the warty excrescences on the leaves and stems of plants, such as oak- 
apples, gall-nuts, and the like, arise from the punctures of four-winged 
gall-flies {Diplolepididce), and the irritation produced by their larvje, 
which reside in these swellings. The injury caused by them is, com- 
paratively, of very little importance, while, on the other hand, we are 
greatly indebted to these insects for the gall-nuts that are extensively 
used in coloring, and in medicine, and form the chief ingredient in ink. 
We may, therefore, write down these insects among the benefactors of 
the human race. Immense numbers of caterpillars and other noxious 
insects are preyed upon by internal enemies, the larvfc of the ichneumon- 
flies {EvaniadcE, Ichneumonida;, and Chalcididce), which live upon the 
fat of their victims, and finally destroy them. Some of these ichneumon- 
flies {Ichneumones ovulorum*) are extremely small, and confine their 
attacks to the eggs of other insects, which they puncture, and the little 
creatures produced from the latter find a sufficient quantity of food to 
supply all their wants within the larger eggs they occupy. The ruby- 
tails (Chrysididcc), and the cuckoo-bees (Hylaus, Sphecodes, Nomada, 
MeJecta, Epeohis, Ccclioxys^and Stelis), \ay their eggs in the provisioned 
nests of other insects, whose young are robbed of their food by the 
earlier hatched intruders, and are consequently starved to death. The 
wood-wasps ( Cralronid(^), and numerous kinds of sand-wasps (Larradce, 
Bembicida;, SphegidcB, PompilidcF, and Scoliadip), mud-wasps {Pelo- 
pceus)^ the stinging velvet-ants (MutiUadcc), and the solitary wasps 
{Odynerus and Eumenes), are predaceous in their habits, and provision 
their nests with other insects, which serve for food to their young. The 
food of ants consists of animal and vegetable juices ; and though these 
industrious little animals sometimes prove troublesome by their fondness 
for sweets, yet, as they seize and destroy many insects also, their occa- 
sional trespasses may well be forgiven. Even the proverbially irritable 
paper-making wasps and hornets (PoZisies and Vespa),a.re not without 
their use in the economy of nature ; for they feed their tender ofi^spring 

* Now placed among the Prodotriipidce. 



INTRODUCTION. J3 

not only with vegetable juices, but with the softer parts of other insects, 
great numbers of which they seize and destroy for this purpose. The 
soHtary and social bees (AndrenadcE and Apida) live wholly on the 
honey and pollen of flowers, and feed their young with a mixture of tlic 
same, called bee-bread. Various kinds of bees are domesticated for the 
sake of their stores of wax and honey, and are thus made to contribute 
directly to the comfort and convenience of man, in return for the care 
and attention atforded them. Honey and wax are also obtained from 
several species of wild bees (Melipona, Trigona, and Tetragona), 
essentially different from the domesticated kinds. While bees and other 
hymenoplerous insects seek only the gratification of their own inclina- 
tions, in their frequent visits to flowers, they carry on their bodies the 
yellow dust or pollen from one blossom to another, and scatter it over 
the parts prepared to receive and be fertilized by it, whereby they render 
an important service to vegetation. 

7. — DiPTERA (Mosqiiitos, Gnats, Flies, Sf^c). Insects with 
a horny or fleshy proboscis, two wings only, and two knobbed 
threads, called balancers or poisers, behind the wings. Trans- 
formation complete. The larvae are maggots, without feet, 
and with the breathing-holes generally in the hinder extremity 
of the body. Pupae mostly incased in the dried skin of the 
larvae, sometimes, however, naked, in which case the wings and 
the legs are visible, and are found to be more or less free or 
unconfined. 

The two-winged insects, though mostly of moderate or small size, are 
not only very numerous in kinds or species, but also extremely abundant 
in individuals of the same kind, often appearing in swarms of countless 
multitudes. Flies are destined to live wholly on liquid food, and are 
therefore provided with a proboscis, enclosing hard and sharp-pointed 
darts, instead of jaws, and fitted for piercing and sucking, or ending 
with soft and fleshy lips for lapping. In our own persons we suffer 
much from the sharp suckers and blood-thirsty propensities of gnats and 
mosquitos {Cnlicida'), and also from those of certain midges {Cerato- 
pogon and Simulium), including the tormenting black-flies {Simulium 
molestum) of this country. The larvae of these insects live in stagnant 
water, and subsist on minute aquatic animals. Horse-flies and the 
golden-eyed forest-flies (Tabanidce), whose larvffi live in the ground, 
and the stinging stable-flies (Stomoxys), which closely resemble common 
house-flies, and in ^le larva state live in dung, attack both man and 



14 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

animals, goading the latter sometimes almost to madness by their severe 
and incessant punctures. The winged horse-ticks {Hippohosccs), the 
bird-flies {Ornithomyi(e), the wingless sheep-ticks (Melophagi), and the 
spider-flies (Nycterihice), and bee-lice (Braula;), which are also desti- 
tute of wings, are truly parasitical in their habits, and pass their whole 
lives upon the skin of animals. Bot-flies, or gad-flies {(Estridcp), as 
they are sometimes called, appear to take no food while in the winged 
state, and are destitute of a proboscis ; the nourishment obtained by 
their larvse, which, as is well known, live in the bodies of horses, cattle, 
sheep, and other animals, being sufficient to last these insects during the 
rest of their lives. Some flies, though apparently harmless in the winged 
state, deposit their eggs on plants, on the juices of which their young 
subsist, and are oftentimes productive of immense injury to vegetation ; 
among these the most notorious for their depredations are the gall-gnats 
(Cecidomyice), including the wheat-fly and Hessian fly, the root-eating 
maggots of some of the long-legged gnats ( TipitZce) , those of the flower- 
flies { Ant homy icf), and the two-winged gall-flies and fruit-flies {Ortali- 
des). To this list of noxious flies are to be added the common house- 
flies {3Iusc(r), which pass through the maggot state in dung and other 
filth, the blue-bottle or blow-flies, and meat-flies [LucilicB and Calli- 
phorcc), together with the maggot-producing or viviparous flesh-flies 
(Sarcophago'. and Cynomyicr), whose maggots live in flesh, the cheese- 
fly (PiopJiila), the parent of the well-known skippers, and a few others 
that in the larva state attack our household stores. Some flies are 
entirely harmless in all their states, and many are eminently useful in 
various ways. Even the common house-flies, and flesh-flies, together 
with others, for which no names exist in our language, render important 
services by feeding while larvse upon dung, carrion, and all kinds of 
filth, by which means, and by similar services, rendered by various tribes 
of scavenger-beetles, these offensive matters speedily disappear, instead 
of remaining to decay slowly, thereby tainting the air and rendering it 
unwholesome. Those whose larvgc live in stagnant water, such as gnats 
{Culicidce)^ feather-horned gnats {Chiro7wmus, &c.), the soldier-flies 
{Stratiomyadce), the rat-tailed flies (HelopJdhis, &c. «fec.), tend to pre- 
vent the water from becoming putrid, by devouring the decayed animal 
and vegetable matter it contains. The maggots of some flies (Myceto- 
pJiilai and various Muscada) live in mushrooms, toadstools, and similar 
excrescences growing on trees; those of others (Sargi, XylopliagidcR, 
AsilidcB, Therevce, MilesicB, XylotcE, Borbori, &c. &c.), in rotten wood 
and bark, thereby joining with the grubs of certair^beetles to hasten the 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

removal of these dead and useless substances, and make room for new 
and more vigorous vegetation. Some of these wood-eating insects, with 
others, when transformed to flies {Asilidcr, Rhagionidce, Dolichopidtp, 
and Xylophagidce), prey on other insects. Some (Syrphidce), though 
not predaceous themselves in the winged state, deposit their eggs among 
plant-lice, upon the blood of which their young afterwards subsist. 
Many {Conopid(E, excluding Stomoxys, Tachincc, OcyptercB, Phorce, &c.) 
lay their eggs on caterpillars, and on various other larvse, within the 
bodies of which the maggots hatched from these eggs live till they 
destroy their victims. And finally others [Anthracidce and VoluceUce) 
drop their eggs in the nests of insects, whose offspring are starved to 
death, by being robbed of their food by the offspring of these cuckoo- 
flies. Besides performing their various appointed tasks in the economy 
of nature, flies, and other insects, subserve another highly important 
purpose, for which an all-wise Providence has designed them, namely, 
that of furnishing food to numerous other animals. Not to mention the 
various kinds of insect-eating quadrupeds, such as bats, moles, and the 
like, many birds live partly or entirely on insects. The finest song- 
birds, nightingales and thrushes, feast with the highest relish on maggots 
of all kinds, as well as on flies and other insects, while the warblers, 
vireous, and especially the fly-catchers and swallows, devour these two- 
winged insects in great numbers. 

The seven foregoing orders constitute very natural groups, 
relatively of nearly equal importance, and sufficiently distinct 
from each other, but connected at different points by various 
resemblances. It is impossible to show the mutual relations 
of these orders, when they are arranged in a continuous series, 
but these can be better expressed and understood by grouping 
the orders together in a cluster, so that each order shall come 
in contact with several others. 

Besides these seven orders, there are several smaller gi'oups, 
which some naturalists have thought proper to raise to the rank 
of independent orders. Upon the principal of these, a few 
remarks will now be made. 

The little order Strepsiptera of Kirby, or Rhipiptera of 
Latreille, consists of certain minute insects, which undergo 
their transformations within the bodies of bees and wasps. 
One of them, the Xenos Peckii, was discovered by Professor 
Peck in the common brown wasp [Polistes fuscata) of this 



16 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

country. The larva is maggot-like, and lives betu^een the rings 
of the back of the wasp; the pnpa resembles that of some 
flies, and is cased in the dried skin of the larva. The females 
never acquire wings, and never leave the bodies of the bees or 
wasps into which they penetrate while young. The males, in 
the adult state, have a pair of short, narrow, and twisted mem- 
bers, instead of fore-wings, and two very large hind-wings, 
folded lengthwise like a fan. The mouth is provided with a 
pair of slender, sharp-pointed jaws, better adapted for piercing 
than for biting. It is very difficult to determine the proper 
place of these insects in a natural arrangement. Latreille put 
them between the Lepidoptera and Diptera, but thinks them 
most nearly allied to some of the Hymenoptera. 

The flea tribe (Pulicidce) was placed among the bugs, or 
Hemiptera, by Fabricius. It constitutes the order Aptera of 
Leach, Siphonaptera of Lati-eille, and Aphaniptera of Kirby. 
Fleas are destitute of wings, in the place whereof there are 
four little scales, pressed closely to the sides of their bodies ; 
their mouth is fitted for suction, and provided with several 
lancet-like pieces for making punctures; they undergo a com- 
plete transformation ; their larvtE are w^orm-like and without 
feet; and their pupae have the legs free. These insects, of 
which there are many different kinds, are intermediate in their 
characteristics between the Hemiptera and the Diptera, and 
seem to connect more closely these two orders together. 

The ear-wigs [Forficuladce), of which also there are many 
kinds, were placed by Linnaeus in the order Coleoptera, but 
most naturalists now include them among the Orthoptera ; 
indeed, they seem to be related to both orders, but most closely 
to the Orthoptera, with which they agree in their partial trans- 
formations, and active pups. They form the little order Der- 
maptera of Leach, or Euplexoptera of West^wood. 

The spider-flies, bh-d-flies, sheep-tick, &c. (Hippoboscades), 
which, with Latreille and others, I have retained among the 
Diptera, form the order Homaloptera of Leach, and the 
English entomologists. 

The May-flies, or case-flies [Phryganeadce), have been sepa- 
rated from the Neuroptera; and constitute the order Tricho- 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

PTERA of Kirby. Latreille and most of the naturalists of the 
continent of Europe still retain them in Neuroptera, to which 
they seem properly to belong. 

The Thrips tribe consists of minute insects more closely 
allied to Hemiptera than to any other order, but resembling, in 
some respects, the Orthoptera also. It forms the little order 
Thysanoptera of Haliday; but I propose to leave it, as La- 
treille has done, among the Hemiptera. 

The English entomologists separate from Hemiptera the 
cicadas or haryest-flies, lantern-flies, frog-hoppers, plant-lice, 
bark -lice, &c., under the name of Homoptera ; but these insects 
seem too nearly to resemble the true Hemiptera to w'arrant the 
separation. 

Bm-meister, a Prussian naturalist, has subdivided the Neu- 
roptera into the orders Neuroptera and Dictyotoptera, the 
latter to include the species which undergo only a partial 
transformation. If Hemiptera is to be subdivided, as above 
mentioned, then this division of Neuroptera will be justifiable 
also. 

Objections have often been raised against the study oJ' 
natural history, and many persons have been discouraged from 
attempting it, on account of the formidable array of scientific 
names and terms which it presents to the beginner ; and some 
men of mean and contracted minds have made themselves 
meny at the expense of naturalists, and have sought to bring 
the writings of the latter into contempt, because of the scientific 
language and names they were obhged to employ. Entomo- 
logy, or the science that treats of insects, abounds in such 
names more than any other branch of natural history; for the 
different kinds of insects very far outnumber the species in 
every class of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. 
It is owing to this excessive number of species, and to the 
small size and unobtrusive character of many insects, that 
comparatively very few have received any common names, 
either in our own, or in other modern tongues ; and hence 
most of those that have been described in works of natural 
history, are known only by their scientific names. The latter 
have the advantage over other names in being intelligible to 
3 



18 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

all well-educated persons in all parts of the world ; while the 
common names of animals and plants in our own and other 
modern languages are very limited in their application, and 
moreover are often misapplied. For example, the name weevil 
is given, in this country, to at least six different kinds of in- 
sects, two of which are moths, two are flies, and two are 
beetles. Moreover, since nearly four thousand species of 
weevils have actually been scientifically named and described, 
when mention is made of " the weevil," it may well be a sub- 
ject of doubt to which of these four thousand species the 
speaker or writer intends to refer; whereas, if the scientific 
name of the species in question were made known, this doubt 
would at once be removed. To give to each of these weevils a 
short, appropriate, significant, and purely English name, would 
be very difficult, if not impossible, and there would be great 
danger of overburdening the memory with such a number of 
names ; but, by means of the ingenious and simple method of 
nomenclature invented by Linnaeus, these weevils are all 
arranged under three hundred and fifty-five generical, or sur- 
names, requiring in addition only a small number of different 
words, like christian names, to indicate the various species or 
kinds. There is oftentimes a great convenience in the use of 
single collective terms for groups of animals and plants, whereby 
the necessity for enumerating aU the individual contents or the 
characteristics of these groups is avoided. Thus the single 
word Ruminantia stands for camels, lamas, gu-affes, deer, ante- 
lopes, goats, sheep, and kine, or for all the hoofed quadrupeds, 
which ruminate or chew the cud, and have no front teeth in 
the upper jaw; Lepidoptera includes all the various kinds of 
butterflies, hawk-moths, and millers or moths, or insects having 
wings covered with branny scales, and a spiral tongue instead 
of jaws, and whose young appear in the form of caterpillars. 
It would be difficult to find or invent any single Engfish words 
which would be at once so convenient and so expressive. 
This, therefore, is an additional reason why scientific names 
ought to be preferred to all others, at least in works of natural 
history, where it is highly important that the objects described 
should have names that are short, significant in themselves, 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

and not liable to be mistaken or misapplied. There is no art, 
profession, trade, or occupation, which can be taught or learned 
without the use of technical words or phrases belonging to 
each, and which, to the inexperienced and untaught, are as 
unintelligible as the terms of science. It is not at all more 
difficult to learn and remember the latter than the former, when 
the attention has been properly given to the subject. The 
seaman, the farmer, and the mechanic soon become familiar 
with the names and phrases peculiar to their several callings, 
uncouth, and without apparent signification, as many of them 
are. So, too, the terms of science lose their forbidding and 
mysterious appearance and sound by the frequency of their 
recurrence, and finally become as harmonious to the car, as 
they are clear and definite in their application. 



'20 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



COLEOPTERA. 

Beetles. — ScAEABJiiANS. Ground-Beetles. Tree-Beetles. Cockchafers 
OR May-Beetles, Flower-Beetles. Stag-Beetles. — Buprestians, or 
Saw-horned Borers. — Spring-Beetles. — Timber-Beetles. — Weevils. — 
Cylindrical Bark-Beetles. — Capricorn-Beetles, or Long-horned Bor- 
ers. — Leaf-Beetles. Criocerians. Leaf-mining Beetles. — Tortoise- 
Beetles. Chrysomelians. — Cantharides. 

The Avings of beetles are covered and concealed by a pair of 
horny cases or shells, meeting in a straight line on the top of 
the back, and usually having a little triangular or semicircular 
piece, called the scutel, wedged between their bases. Hence 
the order to which these insects belong is called Coleoptera, a 
word signifying wings in a sheath. Beetles* are biting-insects, 
and are provided with two pairs of jaws moving sidewise. 
Their young are grubs, and undergo a complete transformation 
in coming to maturity. 

At the head of this order Linnajus placed a gi'oup of insects, 
to which he gave the name of Scarabjeus. It includes the 
largest and most robust animals of the beetle kind, many of 
them remarkable for the singularity of their shape, and the 
formidable horn-like prominences with which they are fur- 
nished, — together with others, which, though they do not 
present the same imposing appearance, require to be noticed, 
on account of the injury sustained by vegetation from their 
attacks. An immense number of Scarabasians (Scarab^eid^), 
as they may be called, are now known, differing greatly from 
each other, not only in structure, but in their habits in the larva 
and adult states. They are all easily distinguished by their 
short movable horns or antennae, ending with a knob, composed 
of three or more leaf-like pieces, which open like the petals of 
a flower-bud. Another feature that they possess in common, 
is the projecting ridge {chjpeus) of the forehead, which extends 

* Beetle, in old English, hctl, lytl, or litel, means a biter, or inse(ft that bites. 



COLEOPTERA. 21 

more or less over the face, like the ^dsor or brhn of a cap, and 
beneath the sides of this visor the antennae are implanted. 
Moreover, the legs of these beetles, particularly the first pair, 
are fitted for digging, being deeply notched, or furnished with 
several strong teeth on the outer edges ; and the feet are five- 
jointed. This very extensive family of insects is subdivided 
into several smaller groups, each composed of beetles distin- 
guished by various peculiarities of structure and habits. Some 
live mostly upon or beneath the surface of the earth, and were, 
therefore, called ground-beetles by De Geer; some, in their 
winged state, are found on trees, the leaves of which they 
devour; they are the tree-beetles of the same author; and 
others, dming the same period of their lives, frequent flowers, 
and are called flower-beetles. The ground-beetles, including 
the earth-borers [Geotrupidce), and dung-beetles [Coprididce 
and Aphodiadcs), which, in all their states, are found in excre- 
ment, the skin-beetles (Trog-idcB), which, inhabit dried animal 
substances, and the gigantic Hercules-beetles [DynastidtB), 
which live in rotten wood or beneath old dung-heaps, must be 
passed over without further comment. The other groups con- 
tain insects that are very injurious to vegetation, and therefore 
require to be more particularly noticed. 

One of the most common, and the most beautiful of the 
tree-beetles of this country, is the Areoda lanig^era, or woolly 
Areoda, sometimes also called the goldsmith-beetle. It is 
about nine tenths of an inch in length, broad oval in shape, of 
a lemon-yellow color above, glittering like burnished gold on 
the top of the head and thorax ; the under-side of the body is 
copper-colored, and thickly covered with whitish wool; and 
the legs are brownish yellow, or brassy, shaded with green. 
These fine beetles begin to appear in Massachusetts about the 
middle of May, and continue generally till the twentieth of 
June. In the morning and evening twilight they come forth 
from their retreats, and fly about with a humming and rustling 
sound among the branches of trees, the tender leaves of which 
they devour. Pear-trees are particularly subject to their attacks, 
but the elm, hickory, poplar, oak, and probably also other kinds 
of trees, are frequented and injured by them. During the 



22 INSECTS IXJUllIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

middle of the day they remain at rest upon the trees, clinging 
to the under-sides of the leaves; and endeavor to conceal 
themselves by drawing two or three leaves together, and hold- 
ing them in this position with their long unequal claws. In 
some seasons they occur in profusion, and then may be obtained 
in great quantities by shaking the young trees on which they 
are lodged in the daytime, as they do not attempt to fly when 
thus disturbed, but fall at once to the ground. The larvae of 
these insects are not known ; probably they live in the ground 
upon the roots of plants. The group to which the goldsmith- 
beetle belongs may be called Rutilians (rutilid.e), from Rutela, 
or more correctly Rutila, signifying shining, the name of the 
principal genus included in it. The Rutilians connect the 
ground-beetles with the tree-beetles of the following group, 
having the short and robust legs of the former, with the leaf- 
eating habits of the latter. 

The spotted Pelidnota, Pelidnota punctata^ is also arranged 
among the Rutilians. This large beetle is found on the culti- 
vated and wild grape-vine, sometimes in great abundance, 
during the months of July and August. It is of an oblong 
oval shape, and about an inch long. The wing-covers are 
tile-colored, or dull brownish yellow, with three distant black 
dots on each ; the thorax is darker, and slightly bronzed, with 
a black dot on each side ; the body beneath, and the legs, are 
of a deep bronzed green color. These beetles fly by day; but 
may also be seen at the same time on the leaves of the grape, 
which are their only food. They sometimes prove very injuri- 
ous to the vine. The only method of destroying them, is to 
pick them off" by hand, and crush them under foot. The larvge 
live in rotten wood, such as the stumps and roots of dead trees ; 
and do not differ essentially from those of other Scarabaeians. 

Among the tree-beetles, those commonly called dors, chafers, 
May-bugs, and rose-bugs, are the most interesting to the farmer 
and gardener, on account of their extensive ravages, both in 
the winged and larva states. They were included by Fabricius 
in the genus Melolontha, a word used by the ancient Greeks to 
distinguish the same kind of insects, which were supposed by 
them to be produced from or with the flowers of apple-trees, as 



COLEOPTERA. 23 

the name itself implies. These beetles, together with many- 
others, for which no common names exist in om* language, are 
now united in one family called melolonthad.e, or Melolon- 
thians. The following are the general characters of these 
insects. The body is oblong oval, convex, and generally of a 
brownish color; the antennae are nine or more commonly ten 
jointed, the knob is much longer in the males than in the 
females, and consists generally of three leaf-like pieces, some- 
times of a greater number, which open and shut like the leaves 
of a book; the visor is short and wide; the upper jaws are 
furnished at base on the inner side with an oval space, crossed 
by ridges, like a millstone, for grinding; the thorax is trans- 
versely square, or nearly so; the wing-cases do not cover the 
whole of the body, the hinder extremity of which is exposed ; 
the legs are rather long, the first pair armed externally with 
two or three teeth ; and the claws are notched beneath, or are 
split at the end like the nib of a pen. The powerful and horny 
jaws are admirably fitted for cutting and grinding the leaves of 
plants, upon which these beetles subsist; their notched or double 
claws support them securely on the foliage ; and their strong 
and jagged fore-legs, being formed for digging in the ground, 
point out the place of their transformations. 

The habits and transformations of the common cockchafer 
of Europe have been carefully observed, and will serve to 
exemplify those of the other insects of this family, which, as 
far as they are known, seem to be nearly the same. ThiS 
insect devours the leaves of trees and shrubs. Its duration in 
the perfect state is very short, each individual living only about 
a week, and the species entirely disappearing in the course of 
a month. After the sexes have paired, the males perish, and 
the females enter the earth to the depth of six inches or more, 
making their way by means of the strong teeth which arm the 
fore-legs ; here they deposit their eggs, amounting, according 
to some writers, to nearly one hundred, or, as others assert, to 
two hundred from each female, which are abandoned by the 
parent, who generally ascends again to the surface, and per- 
ishes in a short time. 



24 INSECTS INJUKIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

From the eggs are hatched, in the space of fourteen days, 
little whitish grubs, each provided with six legs near the head, 
and a mouth furnished with strong jaws. When in a state of 
rest, these grubs usually cm-1 themselves in the shape of a 
crescent. They subsist on the tender roots of various plants, 
committing ravages among these vegetable substances, on some 
occasions of the most deplorable kind, so as totally to disappoint 
the best founded hopes of the husbandman. During the summer 
they live under the thin coat of vegetable mould near the sur- 
face, but, as winter approaches, they descend below the reach 
of frost, and remain torpid until the succeeding spring, at which 
time they change their skins, and reascend to the surface for 
food. At the close of their third summer (or, as some say, of 
the fourth or fifth), they cease eating, and penetrate about two 
feet deep into the earth ; there, by its motions from side to side, 
each grub forms an oval cavity, which is lined by some glutin- 
ous substance thrown from its mouth. In this cavity it is 
changed to a pupa by casting off its skin. In this state, the 
legs, antennse, and wing-cases of the future beetle are visible 
through the transparent skin which envelopes them, but appear 
of a yellowish-white color ; and thus it remains until the month 
of February, when the thin film which encloses the body is 
rent, and three months afterwards the perfected beetle digs its 
way to the surface, from which it finally emerges during the 
night. According to Kirby and Spence, the grubs of the cock- 
chafer sometimes destroy whole acres of grass by feeding on 
its roots. They undermine the richest meadows, and so loosen 
the turf that it will roU up as if cut by a turfing spade. They 
do not confine themselves to grass, but eat the roots of wheat, 
of other grains, and also those of young trees. About seventy 
years ago, a farmer near Norwich, in England, suffered much 
by them, and, with his man, gathered eighty bushels of the 
beetles. In the year 1785 many provinces in France were so 
ravaged by them, that a premium was offered by government 
for the best mode of destroying them. The Society of Arts in 
London, during many years, held forth a premium for the best 
account of this insect, and the means of checking its ravages, 
but without having produced one successful claimant. 



COLEOPTERA. 25 

In their winged state, these beetles, with several other spe- 
cies, act as conspicuous a part in injuring the trees, as the 
grubs do in destroying the herbage. During the month of 
May they come forth from the ground, whence they have 
received the name of May-bugs, or May-beetles. They pass 
the greater part of the day upon trees, clinging to the under- 
sides of the leaves, in a state of repose. As soon as evening 
approaches, they begin to buzz about among the branches, and 
continue on the wing till towards midnight. In their droning 
flight they move very irregularly, darting hither and thither 
with an uncertain aim, hitting against objects in their way 
with a force that often causes them to fall to the ground. 
They frequently enter houses in the night, apparently attracted, 
as well as dazzled and bewildered, by the lights. Their vaga- 
ries, in which, without having the power to harm, they seem 
to threaten an attack, have caused them to be called dors, that 
is darers; while their seeming blindness and stupidity have 
become proverbial, in the expressions, " blind as a beetle," and 
" beetle-headed." Besides the leaves of fruit-trees, they devour 
those of various forest-trees and shrubs, with an avidity not 
much less than that of the locust, so that, in certain seasons, 
and in particular districts, they become an oppressive scourge, 
and the source of much misery to the inhabitants. Mouffet 
relates that, in the year 1574, such a number of them fell into 
the river Severn, as to stop the wheels of the water-mills ; and, 
in the Philosophical Transactions, it is stated, that in the year 
1G88 they filled the hedges and trees of Galway, in such infinite 
numbers, as to cling to each other like bees when swarming; 
and, when on the wing, darkened the air, annoyed travellers, 
and produced a sound like distant drums. In a short time, the 
leaves of all the trees, for some miles round, were so totally 
consumed by them, that at midsummer the country wore the 
aspect of the depth of winter. 

Another chafer, Anomala vitis F. is sometimes exceedingly 
injurious to the vine. It prevails in certain provinces of France, 
where it strips the vines of their leaves, and also devours those 
of the willow, poplar, and fruit-trees. 
4 



26 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. , 

The animals and birds appointed to check the ravages of 
these insects, are, according to Latreille, the badger, weasel, 
martin, bats, rats, the common dung-hill fowl, and the goat- 
sucker or night-hawk. To this list maybe added the common 
crow, which devours not only the perfect insects, but their 
larvjp, for which purpose it is often observed to follow the 
plough. In "Anderson's Recreations" it is stated, that "a 
cautious observer, having found a nest of five young jays, 
remarked, that each of these birds, while yet very young, 
consumed at least fifteen of these full-sized grubs in one day, 
and of course would require many more of a smaller size. Say 
that, on an average of sizes, they consumed twenty a-piece, 
these for the five make one hundred. Each of the parents 
consume say fifty ; so that the pair and family devour two 
hundred every day. This, in three months, amomits to twenty 
thousand in one season. But as the grub continues in that 
state four seasons, this single pair, with their family alone, 
without reckoning their descendants after the first year, would 
destroy eighty thousand grubs. Let us suppose that the half, 
namely, forty thousand, are females, and it is known that they 
usually lay about two hundred eggs each, it will appear, that 
no less than eight millions have been destroyed, or prevented 
from being iiatched, by tlie labors of a single family of jays. 
It is by reasoning in this way, that we learn to know of what 
importance it is to attend to the economy of nature, and to be 
cautious how we derange it by our short-sighted and futile 
operations." Our own country abounds with insect-eating 
beasts and birtls, and without doubt the more than abundant 
Melolonthae form a portion of their nourishment. 

We have several Melolonthians whose injuries in the perfect 
and grub state approach to those of the Europc^an cockchafer. 
I\t///ophag-a* qncrcina of Knoch, the May-beetle, as it is gen- 
erally called here, is our common species. It is of a chestnut- 
brown color, smooth, but finely punctured, that is, covered with 
little impressed dots, as if pricked with the point of a needle ; 

* A genus proposed by me in 1826. It signifies leaf-cater. Dejean subse- 
quently called this genus Aticylonycha. 



COLEOPTERA.. 27 

each \vin<^-case has two or llirec slightly chn'atcd loiiiji-ilndinal 
linos; the breast is clothed with yellowish down. 'I'lic knol) of 
its antenna^ coniains only 1hrc(^ leaf-like joints. Its averac^e 
length is nine tenths of an inch. In its perfect state it feeds 
on the leaves of trees, particularly on those of the eluM'ry-tree. 
It Hies with :i lunnniing noise in the night, from ihe middh^ of 
May to the end of .Inne, and frecpiently enters houses, attracted 
oy the light, in the course of the spring, iliese IxmMIcs are 
often thrown from the earth by the spade ;uid plough, in 
various states of maturity, soni(> IxMug soft ;in(l nenrly white, 
their superabundant juices not having evaporated, while others 
exhibit the true color and texture of the perfect insect. The 
grubs devour the roots of grass and of otlun* j)l!uits, and in 
many places the turf may he turned up like a car|)et in eonse- 
(pience of the destruction of the roots. The grub* is a white 
worm with a l)rownish head, and, when fully grown, is nearly 
as thick as the little linger. It is eaten greedily by crows and 
fowls. The beetles are dev«>ured by the skunk, \\ hos(> henelicial 
foraging is detected in our gardtMis by its abundant cxcnMnent 
filled with the wing-cases of these insects. A writer in the 
"New York Evening Post" says, that the b(M»tl(>s, which fre- 
quently commit serious ravages on fruit-tre(>s, may i)e (Mlectually 
exterminated by shaking them from the tn>(\s ev(>ry evening. 
In this way two pailfuls of beetles were collected on the first 
experiment; the number caught n^gularly decr(>ased until the 
lidh (ncning, when only t^\■o beetles were t(» he found. The 
best time, however, for shaking trees on which the May-beetles 
arc lodged, is in the morning, when the insects do not attempt 
to fiy. They are most easily collected in a cloth spread undcM- 
the tret^s to receive them when they fall, after which tlu^y should 
be thrown into boiling watiM*, to kill them, and may then Ix* 
given as food to swine. 



* There is a grub, somewhat rcscinbliug this, -which is fro([iKMi(ly louiul under 
old manure heaps, and is commonly called muck- worm. It differs, however, in 
some respects, from that of the May-beetle, or dor-bug, and is transformed to a 
dung-beetle called ^carabicus rcUctits by Mr. Say. 



28 INSECTS INJUllIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

There is an undescribed kind of Pltyllophaga, or leaf-eater, 
called, in my Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts,* 
fraterna^ because it is nearly akin to the quercina, in general 
appearance. It differs from the latter, however, in being smaller, 
and more slender; the punctures on its thorax and wing-covers 
are not so distinct, and the three elevated lines on the latter 
are hardly visible. It measures thirteen twentieths of an inch 
in length. This beetle may be seen in the latter part of June 
and the beginning of July. Its habits are similar to those of 
the more abundant May-beetle or dor-bug. 

Another common Phi/llopltag'a has been described by Knoch 
and Say, under the name of hirticula, meaning a little hairy. 
It is of a bay-brown color, the punctures on the thorax are 
larger and more distinct than in the qiicrcina, and on each 
wing-cover are three longitudinal rows of short y(;llowish hairs. 
It measures about seven tenths of an inch in length. Its time 
of appearance is in June and July. 

In some parts of Massachusetts the Phpllophag-a Georg-icana 
of Gyllenhall, or Georgian leaf-eater, takes the place of the 
querciria. It is extremely common, during May and June, in 
Cambridge, where the other species is rarely seen. It is of a 
bay-brown color, entirely covered on the upper side with very 
short yellowish gray hairs, and measures seven tenths of an 
inch, or more, in length. 

Phyllopliaga pilosicollis of Knoch, or the hairy-necked leaf- 
eater, is a small chafer, of an ochre-yeUow^ color, with a very 
hairy thorax. It is often thrown out of the ground by the 
spade, early in the spring; but it does not voluntarily come 
forth till the middle of May. It measures half an inch in length. 

Hentz's Melolontha variolosa, or scarred Melolontha, differs 
essentially from the foregoing beetles in the structure of its 
antennae, the knob of which consists of seven narrow strap- 

* In order to save unnecessary repetitions, it may be Avell to state, that the 
Catalogue, above named, to which frequent reference will be made in the course 
of this treatise, was drawn up by me, and was published in Professor Hitchcock's 
Report on the Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology of Massachusetts, and 
that two editions of it appeared Avith the Report, the first in 1833, and the 
second, with numerous additions, in 1835. 



COLEOPTERA. 29 

shaped ochre-yellow leaves, which are excessively long in the 
males. This fine insect is of a light brown color, with irregular 
whitish blotches, like scars, on the thorax and wing-covers. It 
measures nine tenths of an inch, or more, in length. It occurs 
abundantly, in the month of July, at Martha's Vineyard, and 
in some other places near the coast; but is rare in other parts 
of Massachusetts. 

The foregoing Melolonthians are found in gardens, nurseries, 
and orchards, where they are more or less injurious to the fruit- 
trees, in proportion to their numbers in different seasons. They 
also devour the leaves of various forest-trees, such as the elm, 
maple, and oak. 

Omaloplia vespertina of Gyllenhal, and sericea of Eliger, 
attack the leaves of the sweetbriar, or sweet-leaved rose, on 
which they may be found in profusion in the evening, about 
the last of June. They somewhat resemble the May-beetles 
in form, but are proportionally shorter and thicker, and much 
smaller in size. The first of them, the vespertine or evening 
Omaloplia, is bay-brown; the wing-covers are marked with 
many longitudinal shallow furrows, which, with the thorax, 
are thickly punctured. This beetle varies in length from three 
to four tenths of an inch. Omaloplia sericea, the silky Oma- 
loplia, closely resembles the preceding in every thing but its 
color, which is a very deep chestnut-brown, iridescent or 
changeable like satin, and reflecting the colors of the rainbow. 

All these Melolonthians are nocturnal insects, never appear- 
ing, except by accident, in the day, during which they remain 
under shelter of the foliage of trees and shrubs, or concealed 
in the grass. Others are truly day-fliers, committing their 
ravages by the light of the sun, and are consequently exposed 
to observation. 

One of our diurnal Melolonthians is supposed by many 
natm-alists to be the Anomala varians of Fabricius; and it 
agrees very well with this writer's description of the lucicola; 
but Professor Germar thinks it to be an undescribed species, 
and proposes to name it coelebs. It resembles the vine-chafer 
of Europe in its habits, and is found in the months of June 
and July on the cultivated and wild grape-vines, the leaves of 



30 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

which it devours. During the same period, these chafers may 
be seen in still greater numbers on various kinds of sumach, 
which they often completely despoil of their leaves. They are 
of a broad oval shape, and very variable in color. The head 
and thorax of the male are greenish black, margined with dull 
ochre or tile-red, and thickly punctured; the wing-covers are 
clay-yellow, irregularly furrowed, and punctured in the furrows ; 
the legs are pale red, brown, or black. The thorax of the female 
is clay-yellow, or tile-red, sometimes with two oblique blackish 
spots on the top, and sometimes almost entirely black; the 
wing-covers resemble those of the male ; the legs are clay- 
yellow, or light red. The males are sometimes entirely black, 
and this variety seems to be the beetle called atrata, by Fa- 
bricius. The males measure nearly, and the females rather 
more than seven twentieths of an inch in length. In the year 
1825, these insects appeared on the grape-vines in a garden in 
this vicinity ; they have since established themselves on the 
spot, and have so much multiplied in subsequent years as to 
prove exceedingly liurtful to the vines. In many other gardens 
they have also appeared, having probably found the leaves of 
the cultivated grape-vine more to their taste than their natural 
food. Should these beetles increase in numbers, they will be 
found as difficult to check and extirpate as the destructive 
vine-chafers of Europe. 

The rose-chafer, or rose-bug, as it is more commonly and 
incorrectly called, is also a diurnal insect. It is the Melolontha 
snbspinosa of Fabricius, by whom it was first described, and 
belongs to the modern genus Macrodactylus of Latreille. 
Common as this insect is in the vicinity of Boston, it is, or 
was a few years ago, unknown in the northern and western 
parts of Massachusetts, in New Hampshire, and in Maine. 
It may, therefore, be well to give a brief description of it. 
This beetle measures seven twentieths of an inch in length. 
Its body is slender, tapers before and behind, and is entirely 
covered with very short and close ashen yellow down; the 
thorax is long and narrow, angularly widened in the middle of 
each side, which suggested the name subspinoso, or somewhat 
spined ; the legs are slender, and of a pale red color; the joints 



COLEOPTERA. 31 

of the feet are tipped with black, and are very long, which 
caused Latreille to call the genus Macrodactylus, that is long 
toe, or long foot. The natural history of the rose-chafer, one 
of the greatest scourges with which our gardens and nurseries 
have been afHicted, was for a long time involved in mystery, 
but is at last fully cleared up.* The prevalence of this insect 
on the rose, and its annual appearance coinciding with the 
blossoming of that flower, have gained for it the popular name 
by which it is here known. For some time after they were 
first noticed, rose-bugs appeared to be confined to their favorite, 
the blossoms of the rose; but within forty years they have 
prodigiously increased in number, have attacked at random 
various kinds of plants in swarms, and have become notorious 
for their extensive and deplorable ravages. The grape-vine in 
particular, the cherry, plum, and apple trees, have annually 
suffered by their depredations; many other fruit-trees and 
shrubs, garden vegetables and corn, and even the trees of the 
forest and the grass of the fields, have been laid under contri- 
bution by these indiscriminate feeders, by whom leaves, flowers, 
and fruits are alike consumed. The unexpected arrival of 
these insects in swarms, at their first coming, and their sudden 
disappearance at the close of their career, are remarkable facts 
in their history. They come forth from the ground during the 
second week in June, or about the time of the blossoming of 
the damask rose, and remain from thirty to forty days. At the 
end of this period the males become exhausted, fall to the 
ground and perish, while the females enter the earth, lay their 
eggs, return to the surface, and, after lingering a few days, die 
also. The eggs laid by each female are about thirty in num- 
ber, and are deposited from one to four inches beneath the 
surface of the soil; they are nearly globular, whitish, and about 

* See my essay in the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal, 
Yol. X. p. 8 ; reprinted in the New England Farmer, Vol. VI. p. 18, &c. ; my 
Discourse before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, p. 31,Svo. Cambridge, 
1832 ; Dr. Greene's communication on this insect in the New England Farmer, 
Yol. YI. pp. 41, 49, &c. ; my Report on Insects injurious to Vegetation, in 
Massachusetts House Document, No. 72, April, 1838, p. 70 ; and a communi- 
cation in the New England Farmer, Yol. IX. p. 1. 



32 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

one thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and are hatched twenty 
days after they are laid. The young larvse begin to feed on 
such tender roots as are within their reach. Like other grubs 
of the Scarabteians, when not eating they lie upon the side, 
with the body curved so that the head and tail are nearly in 
contact ; they move with difficulty on a level surface, and are 
continually falling over on one side or the other. They attain 
their full size in the autumn, being then nearly three quarters 
of an inch long, and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. 
They are of a yellowish white color, with a tinge of blue 
towards the hinder extremity, which is thick, and obtuse or 
rounded; a few short hairs are scattered on the surface of the 
body ; there are sLx short legs, namely, a pair to each of the 
first three rings behind the head, and the latter is covered with 
a horny shell of a pale rust color. In October they descend 
below the reach of frost, and pass the winter in a torpid state. 
In the spring they approach towards the surface, and each one 
forms for itself a little cell of an oval shape, by turning round 
a great many times, so as to compress the earth and render 
the inside of the cavity hard and smooth. Within this cell 
the grub is transformed to a pupa, during the month of May, 
by casting off its skin, which is pushed downwards in folds 
from the head to the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form 
of the perfected beetle ; but it is of a yellowish white color, 
and its short stump-like wings, its antennae, and its legs, are 
folded upon the breast ; and its whole body is enclosed in a 
thin film, that wraps each part separately. During the month 
of June this filmy skin is rent, the included beetle withdraws 
from it its body and its limbs, bursts open its earthen cell, and 
digs its way to the surface of the ground. Thus the various 
changes, from the egg to the full development of the perfected 
beetle, are completed within the space of one year. 

Such being the metamorphoses and habits of these insects, 
it is evident that we cannot attack them in the egg, the grub, 
or the pupa state ; the enemy, in these stages, is beyond our 
reach, and is subject to the control only of the natural but 
unknown means appointed by the Author of Nature to keep 
the insect tribes in check. When they have issued from their 



COLEOPTERA. 33 

subterranean retreats, and have congregated upon our vines, 
trees, and other vegetable productions, in the complete enjoy- 
ment of their propensities, we must unite our efforts to seize 
and crush the invaders. They must indeed be crushed, scalded, 
or burned, to deprive them of life, for they are not affected by 
any of the applications usually found destructive to other 
insects. Experience has proved the utility of gathering them 
by hand, or of shaking them or brushing them from the plants 
into tin vessels containing a little ^vater. They should be 
collected daily during the period of their visitation, and should 
be committed to the flames, or killed by scalding water. The 
late John Lowell, Esq., states,* that in 1823 he discovered, on 
a solitary apple-tree, the rose-bugs "in vast numbers, such as 
could not be described, and would not be believed if they were 
described, or, at least, none but an ocular witness could con- 
ceive of their numbers. Destruction by hand was out of the 
question," in this case. He put sheets under the tree, and shook 
them down, and burned them. Dr. Green, of Mansfield, whose 
investigations have thrown much light on the history of this 
insect, proposes protecting plants with millinet, and says that 
in this way only did he succeed in securing his grape-vines 
from depredation. His remarks also show the utility of gath- 
ering them. •' Eighty-six of these spoilers," says he, " were 
known to infest a single rose-bud, and were crushed with one 
grasp of the hand." Suppose, as was probably the case, that 
one half of them were females ; by this destruction, eight hun- 
dred eggs, at least, were prevented from becoming matured. 
During the time of their prevalence, rose-bugs are sometimes 
found in immense numbers on the flowers of the common 
white-weed, or ox-eye daisy ( Chrysanthemum leiicanthemum)^ 
a worthless plant, which has come to us from Europe, and has 
been suffered to overrun our pastures and encroach on our 
mowing lands. In certain cases it may become expedient 
rapidly to mow down the infested white-weed in dry pastures, 
and consume it, with the sluggish rose-bugs, on the spot. 

* Massachusetts Agricultural Repository, Vol. IX. p. 145. 

5 



34 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Our insect-eating birds undoubtedly devour many of these 
insects, and deserve to be cherished and protected for their 
services. Rose-bugs are also eaten greedily by domesticated 
fowls ; and when they become exhausted and fall to the ground, 
or when they are about to lay their eggs, they are destroyed by 
moles, insects, and other animals, which lie in wait to seize 
them. Dr. Green informs us, that a species of dragon-fly, or 
devil's-needle, devours them. He also says that an insect, 
which he calls the enemy of the cut-worm, probably the larva 
of a Carabus or predaceous ground-beetle, preys on the grubs 
of the common dor-bug. In France the golden ground-beetle 
{Carabus auratus) devours the female dor or chafer at the 
moment when she is about to deposit her eggs. I have taken 
one specimen of this fine ground-beetle in Massachusetts, and 
we have several other kinds, equally predaceous, which probably 
contribute to check the increase of our native Melolonthians. 

Very few of the flower-beetles are decidedly injurious to 
vegetation. Some of them are said to eat leaves; but the 
greater number live on the pollen and the honey of flowers, or 
upon the sap that oozes from the wounds of plants. In the 
infant or grub state, most of them eat only the crumbled sub- 
stance of decayed roots and stumps ; a few live in the wounds 
of trees, and by their depredations prevent them from healing, 
and accelerate the decay of the trunk. The flower-beetles 
belong chiefly to a group called Cetoniad^e, or Cetonians. 
They are easily distinguished from the other Scarabseians by 
their lower jaws, which are generally soft on the inside, and 
are often provided with a flat brush of hairs, that serves to 
coUect the pollen and juices on which they subsist. Their 
upper jaws have no grinding plate on the inside. Their an- 
tennae consist of ten joints, the last three of which form a 
three-leaved oval knob. The head is often square, with a 
large and wide visor, overhanging and entirely concealing the 
upper lip. The thorax is either rounded, somewhat square, or 
triangular. The wing-cases do not cover the end of the body. 
The fore legs are deeply notched on the outer edge ; and the 
claws are equal and entire. These beetles are generally of an 



COLEOPTERA. 35 

oblong oval form, somewhat flattened above, and often bril- 
liantly colored and highly polished, sometimes also covered 
with hairs. Most of the bright-colored kinds are day-fliers; 
those of dark and plain tints are generally nocturnal beetles. 
Some of them are of immense size, and have been styled the 
princes of the beetle tribes; such are the Incas of South 
America, and the Goliah beetle {Heg-emon Goliatus) of Guinea, 
the latter being more than four inches long, two inches broad, 
and thick and heavy in proportion. 

Two American Cetonians must suflice as examples in this 
group. The first is the Indian Cetonia, Cetonia Inda* one 
of our earliest visitors in the spring, making its appearance 
towards the end of April or the beginning of May, when it 
may sometimes be seen in considerable numbers around the 
borders of woods, and in dry open fields, flying just above the 
grass with a loud humming sound, like a humble-bee, for which 
perhaps it might at first sight be mistaken. Like other insects of 
the same genus, it has a broad body, very obtuse behind, with 
a triangular thorax, and a little wedge-shaped piece on each 
side between the hinder angles of the thorax and the shoulders 
of the wing-covers ; the latter, taken together, form an oblong 
square, but are somewhat notched or widely scalloped on the 
middle of the outer edges. The head and thorax of this beetle 
are dark copper-brown, or almost black, and thicldy covered 
with short greenish yellow hairs; the wing-cases are light 
yellowish brown, but changeable, with pearly and metallic 
tints, and spattered with numerous irregular black spots ; the 
under side of the body, which is very hairy, is of a black color, 
with the edges of the rings and the legs dull red. It measures 
about six tenths of an inch in length. During the summer 
months the Indian Cetonia is not seen ; but about the middle 
of September a new brood comes forth, the beetles appearing 
fresh and bright, as though they had just completed their last 
transformation. At this time they may be fovmd on the flowers 
of the golden-rod, eating the poUen, and also in great numbers 
on corn-stalks, and on the trunks of the locust-tree, feeding 

* Scarabceus Indus of Linnaeus, Cetonia barbata of Say. 



36 INSECTS INJTJEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

upon the sweet sap of these plants. Fortunate would it be 
for pis if they fed on these only; but their love of sweets leads 
them to attack our finest peaches, which, as soon as ripe, they 
begin to devour, and in a very few hours entirely spoil. I have 
taken a dozen of them from a single peach, into which they 
had burrowed so that nothing but the naked tips of their hind- 
body could be seen ; and not a ripe peach remained unbitten 
by them on the tree. When touched, they leave a strong and 
disagreeable scent upon the fingers. On the approach of cold 
weather they disappear, but I have not been able to ascertain 
what becomes of them at this time, and only conjecture that 
they get into some warm and sheltered spot, where they pass 
the winter in a torpid state, and in the spring issue from their 
retreats, and finish their career by depositing their eggs for 
another brood. Those that are seen in the spring want the 
freshness of the autumnal beetles, a circumstance that favors 
my conjecture. Their hovering over and occasionally dropping 
upon the surface of the ground, is probably for the purpose of 
selecting a suitable place to enter the earth and lay their eggs. 
Hence I suppose that their larvEE or grubs may live on the 
roots of herbaceous plants. 

The other Cetonian beetle to be described is the Osmoderma 
scaher* or rough Osmoderma. It is a large insect, with a 
broad oval and flattened body ; the thorax is nearly round, but 
wider than long; there are no wedge-shaped pieces between 
the corners of the thorax, and the shoulders of the wing-cases, 
and the outer edges of the latter are entire. It is of a purplish 
black color, with a coppery lustre; the head is punctured, 
concave or hollowed on the top, with the edge of the broad 
visor turned up in the males, nearly flat, and with the edge of 
the visor not raised in the females ; the wing-cases are so thickly 
and deeply and irregularly punctured as to appear almost as 
rough as shagreen ; the under side of the body is smooth and 
without hairs; and the legs are short and stout. In addition 
to the differences between the sexes above described, it may be 
mentioned that the females are generally much larger than the 

* Trichlus scaher, Palisot de Bcauvois ; Gymnodus scaber, Kirby. 



COLEOPTERA. 37 

males, and often want the coppery polish of the latter. They 
measure from eight tenths of an inch to one inch and one tenth 
in length. They are nocturnal insects, and conceal themselves 
during the day in the crevices and hollows of trees, where they 
feed upon the sap that flows from the bark. They have the 
odor of Russia leather, and give this out so powerfully, that 
their presence can be detected, by the scent alone, at the dis- 
tance of two or three yards from the place of their retreat. 
This strong smcU suggested the name Osmoderma, that is 
scented skin, given to these beetles by the French naturalists. 
They seem particularly fond of the juices of cherry and apple 
trees, in the hollows of which I have often discovered them. 
Their larvae live in the hollows of these same trees, feeding 
upon the diseased wood, and causing it more rapidly to decay. 
They are whitish fleshy grubs, with a reddish hard-shelled 
head, and closely resemble the grubs of the common dor-beetle. 
In the autumn each one makes an oval cell or pod, of fragments 
of wood, strongly cemented with a kind of glue ; it goes through 
its transformation within this cell, and comes forth in the beetle 
form in the month of July. 

We have another scented beetle, equal in size to the pre- 
ceding, of a deep mahogany-brown color, perfectly smooth, 
and highly polished, and the male has a deep pit before the 
middle of the thorax. This species of Osmoderma is called 
eremicola* a name that cannot be rendered literally into English 
by any single word; it signifies wilderness-inhabitant, for which 
might be substituted hermit. I believe that this insect lives in 
forest-trees, but the larva is unknown to me. 

The family Lucanid^, or Lucanians, so named from the 
Linnsean genus Lucanus, must be placed next to the Scara- 
bseians in a natural arrangement. This family includes the 
insects called stag-beetles, horn-bugs, and flying-bulls, names 
that they have obtained from the great size and peculiar form 
of their upper jaws, which are sometimes curved like the horns 
of cattle, and sometimes branched like the antlers of a stag. 
In these beetles the body is hard, oblong, rounded behind, and 

* Cetonia eremicola of Knoch. 



38 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

slightly convex ; the head is large and broad, especially in the 
males; the thorax is short, and as wide as the abdomen; the 
antennae are rather long, elbowed or bent in the middle, and 
composed of ten joints, the last three or four of which are 
broad, leaf-like, and project on the inside, giving to this part 
of the antennae a resemblance to the end of a key; the upper 
jaws are usually much longer in the males than in the females, 
but even those of the latter extend considerably beyond the 
mouth; each of the under jaws is provided with a long hairy 
pencil or brush, which can be seen projecting beyond the mouth 
between the feelers; and the under lip has two shorter pencils 
of the same kind; the fore legs are oftentimes longer than the 
others, with the outer edge of the shanks notched into teeth ; 
the feet are five-jointed, and the nails are entire and equal. 
These beetles fly abroad during the night, and frequently enter 
houses at that time, somewhat to the alarm of the occupants ; 
but they are not venomous, and never attempt to bite without 
provocation. They pass the day on the trunks of trees, and 
live upon the sap, for procuring which the brushes of their jaws 
and lip seem to be designed. They are said also occasionally 
to bite and seize caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects, for 
the purpose of sucking out their juices. They lay their eggs 
in crevices of the bark of trees, especially near the roots, where 
they may sometimes be seen thus employed. The larvae 
hatched from these eggs resemble the grubs of the Scara- 
bseians in color and form, but they are smoother, or not so 
much wrinkled. The grubs of the large kinds are said to be 
six years in coming to their growth, living aU this time in the 
trunks and roots of trees, boring into the solid wood, and 
reducing it to a substance resembling very coarse sawdust; 
and the injury thus caused by them is frequently very consid- 
erable. When they have arrived at their full size, they enclose 
themselves in egg-shaped pods, composed of gnawed particles 
of wood and bark stuck together and lined with a kind of glue ; 
within these pods they are transformed to pupae, of a yellowish 
white color, having the body and all the limbs of the future 
beetle encased in a whitish film, which being thrown off in due 
time, the insects appear in the beetle form, burst the walls of 



COLEOPTERA. 39 

their prison, crawl through the passages the larvae had gnawed, 
and come forth on the outside of the trees. 

The largest of these beetles in the New England States, was 
first described by Linnaeus under the name of Liicanns Capre- 
olus* signifying th^? young roe-buck; but here it is called the 
horn-bug. Its color is a deep mahogany-brown ; the surface is 
smooth and polished; the upper jaws of the male are long, 
curved like a sickle, and furnished internally beyond the middle 
with a little tooth ; those of the female are much shorter, and 
also toothed ; the head of the male is broad and smooth, that 
of the other sex narrower and rough wdth punctures. The 
body of this beetle measures from one inch to one inch and a 
quarter, exclusive of the jaws. The time of its appearance is 
in July and the beginning of August. The gi'ubs live in the 
trunks and roots of various kinds of trees, but particularly in 
those of old apple-trees, willows, and oaks. All the foregoing 
beetles have, by some naturalists, been gathered into a single 
tribe, called lamellicorn or leaf-horned beetles, on account of 
the leaf-like joints wherewith the end of their antennae is pro- 
vided. 

The beetles next to be described, have been brought together 
into one great tribe, named serricorn or saw-horned beetles, 
because the tips of the joints of their antenna usually project 
more or less on the inside, somewhat like the teeth of a saw. 
The beetles belonging to the family Buprestid^e, or the Bu- 
prestians, have antennas of this kind. The Buprestis of the 
ancients, as its name signifies in Greek, was a poisonous 
insect, which, being swallowed with grass by grazing cattle, 
produced a violent inflammation, and such a degree of swelling 
as to cause the cattle to burst. Linnaeus, however, unfortu- 
nately applied this name to the insects of the above-mentioned 
family, none of which are poisqnous to animals, and are rarely, 
if ever, found upon the grass. It is in allusion to the original 
signification of the word Bttprestis, that popular English writers 
on natural history sometimes give the name of burncow to the 
harmless Buprestians ; while the French, with greater propriety 

* Liccanus Dama of Fabric ius. 



40 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

call them richards, on account of the rich and brilliant colors 
wherewith many of them are adorned. The Buprestians, then, 
according to the Linnsean application or rather misapplication 
of the name, are hard-shelled beetles, often brilliantly colored, 
of an elliptical or oblong oval form, obtuse before, tapering 
behind, and broader than thick, so that, when cut in two trans- 
versely, the section is oval. The head is sunk to the eyes in 
the fore part of the thorax ; and the antennse are rather short, 
and notched on one side like the teeth of a saw. The thorax 
is broadest behind, and usually fits very closely to the shoulders 
of the wing-covers. The legs are rather short, and the feet are 
formed for standing firmly, rather than for rapid motion ; the 
soles being composed of four rather wide joints, covered with 
little spongy cushions beneath, and terminated by a fifth joint, 
which is armed with two claws. Most beetles, as already 
stated, have, a little triangular piece, called the scutel, wedged 
between the bases of the wing-covers and the hinder part of 
the thorax, commonly of a triangular or semicircular form, and 
in the greater number of coleopterous insects quite conspicu- 
ous; in the Buprestians, however, the scutel is generally very 
small, and sometimes hardly perceptible. These beetles are 
frequently seen on the trunks and limbs of trees basking in the 
sun. They walk slowly, and, at the approach of danger, fold 
up their legs and antennae and fall to the ground. Being 
furnished with ample wings, their flight is swift and attended 
with a whizzing noise. They keep concealed in the night, 
and are in motion only during the day. 

The larvae are wood-eaters or borers. Our forests and 
orchards are more or less subject to their attacks, especially 
after the trees have passed their prime. The transformations 
of these insects take place in the trunks and limbs of trees. 
The larvae that are known to me have a close resemblance to 
each other; a general idea of them can be formed from a 
description of that which attacks the pig-nut hickory. It is of 
a yellowish white color, very long, narrow, and depressed in 
form, but abruptly widened near the anterior extremity. The 
head is brownish, small, and sunk in the fore part of the first 
segment; the upper jaws are provided with three teeth, and 



COLEOPTERA. 41 

are of a black color; and the antennae are very short. The 
segment which receives the head is short and transverse ; next 
to it is a large oval segment, broader than long, and depressed 
or flattened above and beneath. Behind this, the segments 
are very much naiTowed, and become gradually longer; but 
are still flattened, to the last, which is terminated by a rounded 
tubercle or wart. There are no legs, nor any apparatus which 
can serve as such, except two small warts on the under side of 
the second segment from the thorax. The motion of the grub 
appears to be effected by the alternate contractions and elon- 
gations of the segments, aided, perhaps, by the tubercular 
extremity of the body, and by its jaws, with which it takes 
hold of the sides of its burrow, and thus draws itself along. 
These grubs are found under the bark and in the solid wood 
of trees, and sometimes in great numbers. They frequently 
rest with the body bent sidewise, so that the head and tail 
approach each other. This posture those found under bark 
usually assume. They appear to pass several years in the 
larva state. The pupa bears a near resemblance to the perfect 
insect, but is entirely white, until near the time of its last 
transformation. Its situation is immediately under the bark, 
the head being directed outwards, so that when the pupa-coat 
is cast off", the beetle has merely a thin covering of bark to 
perforate, before making its escape from the tree. The form 
of this perforation is oval, as is also a transverse section of the 
bmTOW, that shape being best adapted to the form, motions, 
and egress of the insect. 

Some of these beetles are known to eat leaves and flowers, 
and of this nature is probably the food of all of them. The 
injury they may thus commit is not very apparent, and cannot 
bear any comparison with the extensive ravages of their larvte. 
The solid trunks and limbs of sound and vigorous trees are 
often bored through in various directions by these insects, 
which, during a long-continued life, derive their only nourish- 
ment from the woody fragments they devour. Pines and firs 
seem particularly subject to their attacks, but other forest-trees 
do not escape, and even fruit-trees are frequently injured by 
these borers. The means to be used for destroying them are 
6 



42 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

similar to those employed against other borers, and will be 
explained in a subsequent part of this essay. It may not be 
amiss, however, here to remark, that woodpeckers are much 
more successful in discovering the retreats of these borers, and 
in dragging out the defenceless culprits from their burrows, 
than the most skilful gardener or nurseryman. 

The largest of these beetles in this part of the United States 
is the Bvprestis ( Chalcophora) Virginica of Drury, or Virginian 
Buprestis. It is of an oblong oval form, brassy, or copper- 
colored; sometimes almost black, with hardly any metallic 
reflections. The upper side of the body is roughly punctured; 
the top of the head is deeply indented; on the thorax there are 
three polished black elevated lines ; on each wing-cover are two 
small square impressed spots, a long elevated smooth black 
line near the outer, and another near the inner margin, with 
several short lines of the same kind between them ; the under 
side of the body is sparingly covered with short whitish down. 
It measures from eight tenths of an inch to one inch or more 
in length. This beetle appears towards the end of May, and 
through the month of June, on pine-trees and on fences. In 
the larva state it bores into the trunks of the different kinds of 
pines, and is oftentimes very injurious to these trees. 

The wild cherry-tree (Priimis scrotina), and also the garden 
cherry and peach trees, suffer severely from the attacks of borers, 
which are transformed to the beetles called Buprestis (Dicerca) 
divaricata by Mr. Say, because the wing-covers divaricate or 
spread apart a little at the tips. These beetles are copper- 
colored, sometimes brassy above, and thickly covered with 
little punctures; the thorax is slightly furrowed in the middle; 
the wing-covers are marked with numerous fine irregular im- 
pressed lines and small oblong square elevated black spots; 
they taper very much behind, and the long and narrow tips are 
blunt-pointed ; the middle of the breast is furrowed ; and the 
males have a little tooth on the under side of the shanks of the 
intermediate legs. They measure from seven to nine tenths 
of an inch. These beetles may be found sunning themselves 
upon the limbs of cherry and peach trees during the months 
of June, July, and August. 



COLEOPTERA. 43 

The borer of the hickory has already been described. It is 
transformed to a beetle which appears to be the Buprestis 
{Dicer ca) liirida* of Fabricius. It is of a lurid or dull brassy 
color above, bright copper beneath, and thickly punctured all 
over ; there are numerous irregular impressed lines, and several 
narrow elevated black spots on the wing-covers, the tip of each 
of which ends with two little points. It measures from about 
six to eight tenths of an inch in length. This kind of Buprestis 
appears during the greater part of the summer on the trunks 
and limbs of the hickory. 

Bvprestis ( Chrysobothris) dentipes^ of Germar, so named 
from the little tooth on the under side of the thick fore legs, 
inhabits the trunks of oak-trees. It completes its transforma- 
tions and comes out of the trees between the end of May and 
the first of July. It is oblong oval and flattened, of a bronzed 
brownish or purpHsh black color above, copper-colored beneath, 
and rough like shagreen with numerous punctures ; the thorax 
is not so wide as the hinder part of the body, its hinder margin 
is hollowed on both sides to receive the rounded base of each 
wing-cover, and there are two smooth elevated lines on the 
middle; on each wing-cover there are three irregular smooth 
elevated lines, which are divided and interrupted by large 
thicldy punctured impressed spots, two of which are oblique; 
the tips are rounded. Length from one half to six tenths of 
an inch. 

Buprestis ( Chrysohothris) femorata of Fabricius has the first 
pair of thighs toothed beneath, like the preceding, which it 
resembles also in its form and general appearance. It is of a 
greenish black color above, with a brassy polish, which is very 
distinct in the two large transverse impressed spots on each 
wing-cover; and the thorax has no smooth elevated lines on it. 
It measures from four tenths to above half of an inch in length. 
Its time of appearance is from the end of May to the middle 
of July, during which it may often be seen, in the middle of 



* Buprestis obscura, F., found in the Middle and SoutTiern States, closely 
resembles the lurida. 

t Buprestis characteristica, Harris. N. E. Farmer, Vol. VIII. p. 2. 



44 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the day, resting upon or flying round the trunks of white oak 
trees, and recently cut timber of the same kind of wood. I 
have repeatedly taken it upon and under the bark of peach-trees 
also. The grubs or larvae bore into the trunks of these trees. 

The Bi/prestis ( Chrysohothris) fulvoguttata* or tawny spotted 
Buprestis, first described by me in the eighth volume of the 
"New England Farmer," is proportionally shorter and more 
convex than the two foregoing species. It is black and bronzed 
above, and brassy beneath ; the thorax is covered with very 
fine wavy transverse lines, and is sometimes copper-colored; 
the wing-covers are thickly punctured, and on each there are 
three small tawny yellow spots, with sometimes an additional 
one by the side of the first spot; the tips are rounded, and the 
fore legs are not toothed. It varies very much in size, measur- 
ing from about three to four tenths of an inch in length. I 
have taken this insect from the trunks of the white pine in the 
month of June, and have seen others that were found in the 
Oregon Territory. 

Professor Hentz has described a small and broad beetle 
having the form of the above, under the name of Buprestis 
( Chrysobothris) Harrisii. It is entirely of a brilliant blue-green 
color, except the sides of the thorax, and the thighs, which, in 
the male, are copper-colored. It measures a little more than 
three tenths of an inch in length. The larvte of this species 
inhabit the small limbs of the white pine, and young sapling 
trees of the same kind, upon which I have repeatedly captured 
the beetles about the middle of June. 

These seven species form but a very small part of the 
Buprestians inhabiting Massachusetts and the other New 
England States. My knowledge of the habits of the others 
is not sufTiciently perfect to render it worth while to insert 
descriptions of them here. The concealed situation of the 
grubs of these beetles, in the trunks and limbs of trees, renders 
it very difficult to discover and dislodge them. When trees 



* Mr. Kirby has redescribed and figured this insect under the name of 
Buprestis (^Trachypteris) Drmmnoiidi, in the fourth volume of the "Fauna 
Boreali- Americana.' ' 



COLEOPTERA. 45 

are found to be very much infested by them, and are going to 
decay in consequence of the ravages of these borers, it will be 
better to cut them down, and burn them immediately, rather 
than to suffer them to stand until the borers have completed 
their transformations and made their escape. 

Closely related to the Buprestians are the Elaters, or spring- 
beetles (Elaterid^), which are well known by the faculty 
they have of throwing themselves upwards with a jerk, when 
laid on their backs. On the under side of the breast, between 
the bases of the first pair of legs, there is a short blunt spine, 
the point of which is usually concealed in a corresponding 
cavity behind it. When the insect, by any accident, falls upon 
its back, its legs are so short, and its back is so convex, that it 
is unable to turn itself over. It then folds its legs close to its 
body, bends back the head and thorax, and thus unsheaths its 
breast-spine; then by suddenly straightening its body, the 
point of the spine is made to strike with force upon the edge 
of the sheath, which gives it the power of a spring, and reacts 
on the body of the insect, so as to throw it perpendicularly 
into the air. When it again falls, if it does not come down 
upon its feet, it repeats its exertions until its object is effected. 
In these beetles the body is of a hard consistence, and is usually 
rather narrow and tapering behind. The head is sunk to the 
eyes in the fore part of the thorax ; the antennae are of moderate 
length, and more or less notched on the inside like a saw. The 
thorax is as broad at the base as the wing-covers ; it is usually 
rounded before, and the hinder angles are sharp and prominent. 
The scutel is of moderate size. The legs are rather short and 
slender, and the feet are five-jointed. 

The larvae or grubs of the Elaters live upon wood and roots, 
and are often very injurious to vegetation. Some are confined 
to old or decaying trees, others devour the roots of herbaceous 
plants. In England they are called wire-worms, from their 
slenderness and uncommon hardness. They are not to be 
confounded with the American wire-worm, a species of lulus, 
which is not a true insect, but belongs to the class Myriapoda, 
a name derived from the great number of feet with which 
most of the animals included in it are furnished; whereas the 



46 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

English wire-worm has only six feet. The European wire- 
worm is said to live, in its feeding or larva state, not less than 
five years ; during the greater part of which time it is supported 
by devouring the roots of wheat, rye, oats, and grass, annually 
causing a large diminution of the produce, and sometimes 
destroying whole crops. It is said to be particularly injurious 
in gardens recently converted from pasture lands. We have 
several grubs allied to this destructive insect, which are quite 
common in land newly broken up ; but fortunately, as yet, 
their ravages are inconsiderable. We may expect these to 
increase in proportion as we disturb them and deprive them of 
their usual articles of food, while we continue also to persecute 
and destroy then- natural enemies, the birds, and may then be 
obliged to resort to the ingenious method adopted by European 
farmers and gardeners for alluring and capturing these grubs. 
This method consists in strewing sliced potatoes or turnips 
in ro"ws through the garden or field; women and boys are 
employed to examine the slices every morning, and collect the 
insects which readily come to feed upon the bait. Some of 
these destructive insects, which I have found in the ground 
among the roots of plants, were long, slender, worm-like grubs, 
closely resembling the common meal-worm; they were nearly 
cylindrical, with a hard and smooth skin, of a buff or brownish 
yellow color, the head and tail only being a little darker; each 
of the first three rings was provided with a pair of short legs ; 
the hindmost ring was longer than the preceding one, was 
pointed at the end, and had a little pit on each side of the 
extremity; beneath this part there was a short retractile wart, 
or prop-leg, serving to support the extremity of the body, and 
prevent it from trailing on the ground. Other grubs of Elaters 
differ from the foregoing in being proportionally broader, not 
cylindrical, but somewhat flattened, with a deep notch at the 
extremity of the last ring, the sides of which are beset with 
little teeth. Such grubs are mostly wood-eaters, devouring 
the woody parts of roots, or living under the bark and in the 
trunks of old trees. 

After their last transformation, Elaters or spring-beetles 
make their appearance upon trees and fences, and some are 



COLEOPTERA. 47 

found on flowers. They creep slowly, and generally fall to the • 
ground on being touched. They fly both by day and night. 
Their food, in the beetle states, appears to be chiefly derived 
from flowers ; but some devour the tender leaves of plants. 

The largest of our spring-beetles is the Elater {Alans) ocula- 
tus, of Linnaeus. It is of a black color; the thorax is oblong 
square, and nearly one third the length of the whole body, 
covered above with a whitish powder, and with a large oval 
velvet-black spot, like an eye, on each side of the middle, from 
which the insect derives its name oculatns, or eyed ; the wing- 
covers are marked with slender longitudinal impressed lines, 
and are sprinkled with numerous white dots ; the under side of 
the body, and the legs, are covered with a white mealy powder. 
This large beetle measures from one inch and a quarter to one 
inch and three quarters in length. It is found on trees, fences, 
and the sides of buildings, in June and July. It undergoes its 
transformations in the trunks of trees. I have found many of 
them in old apple-trees, together with their larvae, which eat 
the wood, and from which I subsequently obtained the insects 
in the beetle state. These larvse are reddish yellow grubs, 
proportionally much broader than the other kinds, and very 
much flattened. One of them, which was found fully grown 
early in April, measured tw^o inches and a half in length, and 
nearly fom* tenths of an inch across the middle of the body, 
and was not much narrowed at either extremity. The head 
was broad, brownish, and rough above; the upper jaws or 
nippers were very strong, curved, and pointed; the eyes were 
small and two in number, one being placed at the base of each 
of the short antennae ; the last segment of the body w^as black- 
ish, rough with little sharp-pointed warts, with a deep semicir- 
cular notch at the end, and furnished around the sides with 
little teeth, the tw'^o hindmost of which were long, forked, and 
curved upwards like hooks ; under this segment was a large 
retractile fleshy prop-foot, armed behind with little claws, and 
around the sides with short spines; the true legs were six, a 
pair to each of the first three rings ; and were tipped with a 
single claw. Soon after this grub was found it cast its skin 
and became a pupa, and in due time the latter was transformed 
to a beetle. 



48 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Elater (Pt/rophorus) noctilucus, the night-shining Elater, is 
the celebrated cucuio or fire-beetle of the West Indies, from 
whence it is frequently brought alive to this country. It 
resembles the preceding insect somewhat in form, and is an 
inch or more in length. It gives out a strong light from two 
transparent eye-like spots on the thorax, and from the segments 
of its body beneath. It eats the pulpy substance of the sugar- 
cane, and its grub is said to be very injurious to this plant, by 
devouring its roots. 

The next two common Elaters, together with several other 
species, are distinguished by their claws, which resemble little 
combs, being furnished with a row of fine teeth along the 
under side. The thorax is short and rounded before, and the 
body tapers behind. They are found under the bark of trees, 
where they pass the winter, having completed their transfor- 
mations in the previous autumn. Their grubs live in wood. 
The first of these beetles is the ash-colored Elater, Elater 
(Melanotus) cinerens of Weber. It is about six tenths of an 
inch long, and is dark brown, but covered with short gray hairs, 
which give it an ashen hue; the thorax is convex; and the 
wing-covers are marked with lines of punctures, resembling 
stitches. It is found on fences, the trunks of trees, and in 
paths, in April and May. 

Elater [Melanotus) communis of Schonherr, is, as its name 
implies, an exceedingly common and abundant species. It 
closely resembles the preceding, but is smaller, seldom exceed- 
ing half an inch in length ; it is also rather lighter colored ; the 
thorax is proportionally a little longer, not so convex, and has 
a slender longitudinal furrow in the middle. This Elater 
appears in the same places as the cinercus in April, May, and 
June ; and the recently transformed beetles can also be found 
in the autumn under the bark of trees, where they pass the 
winter. 

Another kind of spring-beetle, which absolutely swarms in 
paths and among the grass during the warmest and brightest 
days in April and May, is the Elater {Lvdius) appressifrons of 
Say. Its specific name probably refers to the front of the head 
or visor being pressed downwards over the lip. The body is 



COLEOPTERA. 49 

slender and almost cylindrical, of a deep chestnut-brown color, 
rendered gray, however, by the numerous short yellowish hairs 
with which it is covered; the thorax is of moderate length, 
not much narrowed before, convex above, with very long and 
sharp-pointed hinder angles, and in certain lights has a brassy 
hue ; the wing-covers are finely punctured, and have very slen- 
der impressed longitudinal lines upon them ; the claws are not 
toothed beneath. This beetle usually measures from four to 
five tenths of an inch in length; but the females frequently 
greatly exceed these dimensions, and, being much more robust, 
with a more convex thorax, were supposed by Mr. Say to 
belong to a different species, named by him brevicornis, the 
short-horned. The larvae are not yet known to me ; but I have 
strong reasons for thinking that they live in the ground upon 
the roots of the perennial grasses and other herbaceous plants. 

Although above sixty different kinds of spring-beetles are 
now known to inhabit Massachusetts, I shall add to the fore- 
going a description of only one more species. This is the 
Elater (Agriotes) obesiis of Say. It is a short and thick beetle, 
as the specific name implies ; its real color is a dark brown, but 
it is covered with dirty yellowish gray hairs, which on the 
wing-covers are arranged in longitudinal stripes ; the head and 
thorax are thickly punctured, and the wing-covers are punc- 
tured in rows. Its length is about three tenths of an inch. 
This beetle closely resembles one of the kinds, which, in the 
grub state, is called the wire-worm in Europe, and possibly it 
may be the same. This circumstance should put us on om* 
guard against its depredations. It is found in April, May, and 
June, among the roots of grass, on the under side of boards 
and rails on the ground, and sometimes also on fences. 

The utility of a knowledge of the natural history of insects 
in the practical arts of life, was never mote strikingly and 
triumphantly proved than by LinnaBus himself, who, while 
giving to natural science its language and its laws, neglected 
no opportunity to point out its economical advantages.* On 



* See the preface to Smith's " Introduction to Botany," and Pultency's 
" Tiew of the Writings of Linnseus," for several examples, one of -which it 

7 



50 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

one occasion this great naturalist was consulted by the King 
of Sweden upon the cause of the decay and destruction of 
the ship-timber in the royal dock-yards, and, having traced it 
to the depredations of insects, and ascertained the history of 
the depredators, by directing the timber to be sunk under 
water during the season when these insects made their ap- 
pearance in the winged state, and were busied in laying their 
eggs, he effectually secured it from future attacks. The name 
of these insects is Lymcxylon navale, the naval timber-destroyer. 
They have since increased to an alarming extent in some of 
the dockyards of France, and in one of them, at least, have 
become very injurious, wholly in consequence of the neglect 
of seasonable advice given by a naval officer, who was also 
an entomologist, and pointed out the source of the injury, 
together with the remedy to be applied. 

These destructive insects belong to a family called Lymexyl- 
ID^, which may be rendered timber-beetles. They cannot be 
far removed from the Buprestians and the spring-beetles in a 
natural arrangement. From the latter, however, the insects of 
this small group are distinguished by having the head broad 
before, narrowed behind, and not sunk into the thorax; they 
have not the breast-spine of the Elaters, and their legs are 
close together, and not separated from each other by a broad 
breast-bone as in the Buprestians; and the hip-joints are long, 
and not sunk into the breast. In the principal insects of this 
family the antennte are short, and, from the third joint, flat- 
tened, widened, and saw-toothed on the inside; and the jaw- 
feelers of the males have a singular fringed piece attached to 
them. The body is long, narro\v, nearly cylindi'ical, and not 
so firm and hard as in the Elaters. The feet are five-jointed, 
long, and slender. 

The larvae of Lymexylon and Hylecoetiis are very odd-looking, 
long, and slender grubs. The head is small; the first ring is 

may not be amiss to mention here. Linnseus was the first to point out the 
advantages to be derived from employing the Arunclo arenaria, or beach-grass, 
in fixing the sands of the shore, and thereby preventing the encroachments of 
the sea. The Dutch have long availed themselves of his suggestion, and its 
utility has been tested to some extent in Massachusetts. 



COLEOPTERA. 51 

very much hunched ; and on the top of the last ring there is a 
fleshy appendage, resembling a leaf in Lymexylon, and like a 
straight horn in Hyleccetus. They have six short legs near the 
head. These grubs inhabit oak-trees, and make long cylindrical 
burrows in the solid wood. They are also found in some other 
kinds of trees. 

Only a few native insects of this family are known to me, 
and these fortunately seem to be rare in New England. I 
shall describe only two of them. The first was obtained by 
beating the limbs of some forest-tree. It may be called 
Lymexylon sericeum, the silky timber-beetle. It is of a chest- 
nut-brown color above, and covered with very short shining 
yellowish hairs, which give it a silky lustre. The head is 
bowed down beneath the fore part of the thorax ; the eyes are 
very large, and almost meet above and below; the antennae 
are brownish red, widened and compressed from the fourth to 
the last joint inclusive; the thorax is longer than wide, rounded 
before, convex above, and deeply indented on each side of the 
base ; the wing-covers are convex, gradually taper behind, and 
do not cover the tip of the abdomen ; the under side of the 
body, and the legs, are brownish red. Its length is from four 
to six tenths of an inch. This insect was unknown to Mr. 
Say, and does not seem to have been described before. 

The generical name Hylecoitus, given to some insects of this 
family, means a sleeper in the woods, or one who makes his 
bed in the forest. "We have one hitherto undescribed species, 
which may be called Hylecostiis Americanus, the American 
timber-beetle. Its head, thorax, abdomen, and legs are light 
brownish red ; the wing-covers, except at the base where they 
are also red, and the breast, between the middle and hindmost 
legs, are black. The head is not bowed down under the fore 
part of the thorax; the eyes are small and black, and on the 
middle of the forehead there is one small reddish eyelet, a 
character unusual among beetles, very few of which have eye- 
lets ; the antennae resemble those of liymexylon sericewn., but 
are shorter ; the thorax is nearly square, but wider than long ; 
and on each wing-cover there are three slightly elevated longi- 



52 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

tudinal lines or ribs. This beetle is about four tenths of an 
inch long. It appears on the wing in July. 



The foregoing beetles, though differing much in form and 
habits, possess one character in common; namely, their feet 
are five-jointed. Those that follow have fom--jointed feet In 
this great section of Coleopterous insects are arranged the 
"Weevil tribe, the Capricorn beetles or long-horned borers, and 
various kinds of leaf-eating beetles, all of which are exceed- 
ingly injurious to vegetation. 

So gi-eat is the extent of the Weevil tribe,* and so imper- 
fectly known is the history of a large part of our native species, 
that I shall be obliged to confine myself to an account of a 
few only of the most remarkable weevils, and principally those 
that have become most known for their depredations. Mr. 
KoUar's excellent " Treatise on Insects injiu:ious to Gardeners, 
Foresters, and Farmers," contains an account of several kinds 
of weevils that are unknown in this country ; and indeed but 
few resembling them have hitherto been discovered here. 
Should future observations lead to the detection in our gar- 
dens and orchards of any like those which in Europe attack 
the vine, the plum, the apple, the pear, and the leaves and 
stems of fruit-trees, the work of Mr. Kollar may be consulted 
with great advantage. 

Weevils, in the winged state, are hard-shelled beetles, and 
are distinguished from other insects by having the fore part of 
the head prolonged into a broad muzzle or a longer and more 
slender snout, in the end of which the opening of the mouth 
and the small horny jaws are placed. The flies and moths 
produced from certain young insects, called weevils by mistake, 
do not possess these characters, and their larvae or young differ 
essentially from those of the true weevils. The latter belong 
to a group called Rhynchophorid^, literally, snout-bearers. 
These beetles are mostly of small size. Then* antennsB are 

* See page 18. 



COLEOPTERA. 53 

usually knobbed at the end, and are situated on the muzzle or 
snout, on each side of which there is generally a short groove 
to receive the base of the antennae when the latter are turned 
backwards. Their feelers are very small, and, in most kinds, 
are concealed within the mouth. The abdomen is often of an 
oval form, and wider than the thorax. The legs are short, not 
fitted for running or digging, and the soles of the feet are short 
and flattened. These beetles are often very hurtful to plants, 
by boring into the leaves, bark, buds, fruit, and seeds, and 
feeding upon the soft substance therein contained. They are 
diurnal insects, and love to come out of their retreats and 
enjoy the sunshine. Some of them fly well; but others have 
no wings, or only very short ones, under the wing-cases, and 
are therefore unable to fly. They walk slowly, and being of a 
timid nature, and without the means of defence, when alarmed 
they turn back their antenna? under the snout, fold up their 
legs, and fall from the plants on which they Kve. They make 
use of their snouts not only in feeding, but in boring holes, 
into which they afterwards drop their eggs. 

The yomig of these snout-beetles are mostly short fleshy 
grubs, of a whitish color, and without legs. The covering of 
their heads is a hard shell, and the rings of their bodies are 
very convex or hunched, by both of which characters they are 
easily distinguished from the maggots of flies. Their jaws are 
strong and horny, and with them they gnaw those parts of 
plants which serve for their food. It is in the grub state that 
weevils are most injurious to vegetation. Some of them bore 
into and spoil fruits, grain, and seeds; some attack the leaves 
and stems of plants, causing them to swell and become can- 
kered ; while others penetrate into the solid wood, interrupt 
the course of the sap, and occasion the branch above the seat 
of attack to wither and die. Most of these grubs are trans- 
formed within the vegetable substances upon which they have 
lived ; some, however, when fully grown, go into the gi'ound, 
where they are changed to pupae, and afterwards to beetles. 

In the spring of the year we often find, among seed-pease, 
many that have holes in them ; and, if the pease have not been 
exposed to the light and air, we see a little insect peeping out 



54 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of each of these holes, and waiting apparently for an oppor- 
tunity to come forth and make its escape. If we turn out the 
creature from its cell, we perceive it to be a small oval beetle, 
rather more than one tenth of an inch long, of a rusty black 
color, with a white spot on the hinder part of the thorax, four 
or five white dots behind the middle of each wing-cover, and 
a white spot, shaped like the letter T, on the exposed extremity 
of the body. This little insect is the Bruchus Pisi of Linnaeus, 
the pea-Bruchus, or pea-weevil, but is better known in America 
by the incorrect name of pea-bug. The original meaning of 
the word Bruclms is a devourer, and the insects to which it is 
applied well deserve this name, for, in the larva state, they 
devour the interior of seeds, often leaving but little more than 
the hull untouched. They belong to a family of the great 
weevil tribe called Bruchid^e, and are distinguished from other 
weevils by the following characters. The body is oval, and 
slightly convex ; the head is bent downwards, so that the broad 
muzzle, when the insects are not eating, rests upon the breast; 
the antennffi are short, straight, and saw-toothed within, and 
are inserted close to a deep notch in each of the eyes; the 
feelers, though very small, are visible ; the wing-cases do not 
cover the end of the abdomen ; and the hindmost thighs are 
very thick, and often notched or toothed on the under side, as 
is the case in the pea-weevil. The habits of the Bruchians 
and then- larvae are similar to those of the pea-weevil, which 
remain to be described. It may be well, however, to state 
here that these beetles frequent the leguminous or pod-bearing 
plants, such as the pea, Gleditsia, Robinia, Mimosa, Cassia, 
&c., during and immediately after the flowering season ; they 
wound the skin of the tender pods of these plants, and lay 
their eggs singly- in the wounds. Each of the little maggot- 
like grubs, hatched therefrom, perforates the pod and enters a 
seed, the pulp of which suffices for its food till fully grown. 

Few persons while indulging in the luxury of early green 
pease are aware how many insects they unconsciously swallow. 
When the pods are carefully examined, small, discolored spots 
may be seen within them, each one corresponding to a similar 
spot on the opposite pea. If this spot in the pea be opened, a 



COLEOPTERA. 55 

minute whitish grub, destitute of feet, will be found therein. 
It is the weevil in its larva form, which lives upon the marrow 
of the pea, and arrives at its full size by the time that the pea 
becomes dry. This larva or grub then bores a round hole from 
the hollow in the centre of the pea quite to the hull, but leaves 
the latter and generally the germ of the future sprout un- 
touched. Hence these buggy pease, as they are called by 
seedsmen and gardeners, will frequently sprout and grow Avhen 
planted. The grub is changed to a pupa within its hole in 
the pea in the autumn, and before the spring casts its skin 
again, becomes a beetle, and gnaws a hole through the thin 
hull in order to make its escape into the air, which frequently 
does not happen before the pease are planted for an early crop. 
After the pea-vines have flowered, and while the pods are 
young and tender, and the pease within them are just begin- 
ning to swell, the beetles gather upon them, and deposit their 
tiny eggs singly in the punctures or wounds which they make 
upon the surface of the pods. This is done mostly during the 
night, or in cloudy weather. The grubs, as soon as they are 
hatched, penetrate the pod and bury themselves in the opposite 
pease; and the holes through which they pass into the seeds 
are so fine as hardly to be perceived, and are soon closed. 
Sometimes every pea in a pod will be found to contain a 
weevil-grub; and so great has been the injury to the crop, in 
some parts of the country, that the inhabitants have been 
obliged to give up the cultivation of this vegetable.* These 
insects diminish the weight of the pease in which they lodge 
nearly one half, and their leavings are fit only for the food of 
swine. This occasions a great loss, where pease are raised for 
feeding stock or for family use, as they are in many places. 
Those persons who eat whole pease in the winter after they 
are raised, run the risk of eating the weevils also; but if the 
pease are kept till they are a year old, the insects will entirely 
leave them.f 



* See Kalm's Travels. 8vo. Warrington. 1770. Vol. I. p. 173. 
t See the Boston Cultivator for July 1, 1848, for an interesting account of the 
habits of these insects, by Mr. S. Deane. 



56 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The pea-weevil is supposed to be a native of the United 
States. It seems to have been first noticed in Pennsylvania, 
many years ago; and has gradually spread from thence to 
New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Mas- 
sachusetts. It is yet rare in New Hampshire, and 1 believe 
has not appeared in the eastern parts of Maine. It is unknown 
in the North of Em-ope, as we learn from the interesting ac- 
count given of it by Kalm, the Swedish traveller, who tells us 
of the fear with which he was filled, on finding some of these 
weevils in a parcel of pease which he had carried home from 
America, having in view the whole damage which his beloved 
country would have suffered, if only two or three of these 
noxious insects had escaped him. They are now common in 
the South of Europe and in England, whither they may have 
been carried from this country. As the cultivated pea was 
not originally a native of America, it would be interesting to 
ascertain what plants the pea-weevil formerly inhabited. That 
it should have preferred the prolific exotic pea to any of our 
indigenous and less productive pulse, is not a matter of sur- 
prise, analogous facts being of common occurrence; but that, 
for so many years, a rational method for checking its ravages 
should not have been practised, is somewhat remarkable. An 
exceedingly simple one is recommended by Deane, but to be 
successful it should be universally adopted. It consists merely 
in keeping seed-pease in tight vessels over one year before 
planting them. Latreille and others recommend putting them, 
just before they are to be planted, into hot water for a minute 
or two, by which means the weevUs will be killed, and the 
sprouting of the pease wiU be quickened. The insect is 
limited to a certain period for depositing its eggs; late sown 
pease therefore escape its attacks. The late Colonel Pickering 
observed that those sown in Pennsylvania as late as the twen- 
tieth of May, were entirely free from weevils; and Colonel 
Worthington, of Rensselaer county. New York, who sowed 
his pease on the tenth of June, six years in succession, never 
found an insect in them during that period. 

The crow black-bird is said to devour great numbers of the 
beetles in the spring; and the Baltimore oriole or hang-bird 



COLEOPTERA. 57 

splits open the gi-een pods for the sake of the grubs contained 
in the pease, thereby contributing greatly to prevent the increase 
of these noxious insects. The instinct that enables this beau- 
tiful bird to detect the lurking grub, concealed as the latter is, 
within the pod and the hull of the pea, is worthy oui highest 
admiration; and the goodness of Providence, which has en- 
dowed it with this faculty, is still further shown in the economy 
of the insects also, which, through His prospective care, are 
not only limited in the season of their depredations, but are 
instinctively taught to spare the germs of the pease, thereby 
securing a succession of crops for our benefit and that of their 
own progeny. 

The Attelabians (Attelabid.e) are distinguished from the 
l3ruchians by the form and greater length of the head, which 
is a little inclined, and ends with a snout, sometimes short and 
thick, and sometimes long, slender, and curved. The eyes also 
are round and entire; and the antennae are usually implanted 
near the middle of the snout. The larvae resemble those of 
most of the snout-beetles, being short, thick, whitish grubs, 
with horny heads, the rings of the body very much hunched, 
and deprived of legs, the place of which is supplied by fleshy 
warts along the under side of the body. Some of the Euro- 
pean insects of this family are known to be very injurious to 
the leaves, fruits, and seeds of plants. 

The different kinds of AtteJabus are said to roll up the edges 
of leaves, thereby forming little nests, of the shape and size of 
thimbles, to contain their eggs, and to shelter their young, 
which afterwards devour the leaves. The larvae and habits of 
our native species are unknown to me. The most common 
one here is the Attelabus analls of Weber, or the red-tailed 
Attelabus. It is one quarter of an inch long from the tip of 
the thick snout to the end of the body. The head, which is 
nearly cylindrical, the antennae, legs, and middle of the breast 
are deep blue-black ; the thorax, wing-covers, and abdomen are 
dull red; the wing-covers taken together, are nearly square, and 
are punctured in rows. This beetle is found on the leaves of 
oak-trees in June and July, 
8 



58 INSlJCTS INJUEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The two-spotted Attelabus, Attelabus bipustulatus of Fabri- 
cius, is also found on oak-leaves during the same season as 
the preceding. It is of a deep blue-black color, with a square 
dull red spot on the shoulders of each wing-cover. It measm-es 
rather more than one eighth of an inch in length. 

Two or three beetles of this family are very hurtful to the 
vine, in Europe, by nibbling the midi-ib of the leaves, so that 
the latter may be rolled up to form a retreat for their young. 
They also puncture the buds and the tender fruit of this and of 
other plants. In consequence of the damage caused by them 
and by their larvae, whole vineyards are sometimes stripped of 
their leaves, and fruit-trees are despoiled of their foliage and 
fruits. These insects belong to the genus Ri/nchites, a name 
given to them in allusion to their snouts. I have not seen any 
of them on vines or fruit-trees in this country. The largest 
one found here is the Rynchites bicolor of Fabricius, or two- 
colored Rynchites. This insect is met with in June, July, and 
August, on cultivated and wild rose-bushes, sometimes in 
considerable numbers. That they injure these plants is highly 
probable, but the nature and extent of the injury is not cer- 
tainly known. The whole of the upper side of this beetle is 
red, except the rather long and slender snout, which, together 
with the antennae, legs, and under side of the body, is black; 
it is thickly covered with small punctures, and is slightly downy, 
and there are rows of larger punctures on the wing-covers. It 
measures one fifth of an inch from the eyes to the tip of the 
abdomen. 

The grubs of many kinds of Apion destroy the seeds of 
plants. In Europe they do much mischief to clover in this way. 
They receive the above name from the shape of the beetles, 
which resembles that of a pear. Say's Apion, Apion Sayi* of 
Schonherr, is a minute black species, not more than one tenth 
of an inch long, exclusive of the slender sharp-pointed snout. 
Its grubs live in the pods of the common wild indigo bush, 
Baptisia tinctorio, devom-ing the seeds. A smaller kind, some- 

* Apion rostrum, Say. 



COLEOPTERA. 59 

what like it, inhabits the pods and eats the seeds of the locust- 
tree, or Rohinia pseudacacia. 

Naturalists place here a little group of snout-beetles, called 
Brenthid^, or Brenthians, which differ entirely in their forms 
from the other weevils, both in the beetle and grub state. 
They have a long, narrow, and cylindrical body. The snout 
projects from the head in a straight line with the body, and 
varies in shape according to the sex of the insect, and even in 
individuals of the same sex. In the males it is broad and flat, 
sometimes as long as the thorax, sometimes much shorter, and 
it is widened at the tip, where are situated two strong nippers 
or upper jaws; in the females it is long, very slender, and not 
enlarged at the extremity, and the nippers are not visible to the 
naked eye. The feelers are too small to be seen. The antennae 
are short, straight, slightly thickened towards the tip, and im- 
planted before the prominent eyes, on the middle of the snout 
in the males, and at the base of it in the females. The legs 
are short, the first pair being the largest, and the hindmost 
unusually distant from the middle pair. These insects live 
under the bark and in the trunks of trees, but very little has 
been published respecting their habits ; and the only description 
of their larvae that has hitherto appeared is contained in my 
first Report on the Insects of Massachusetts, printed in the 
year 1838, in the seventy-second number of the " Documents 
of the House of Representatives." 

The only beetle of this family known in the New England 
States is the Brenthus (Arrhenodes) septemtrionis* of Herbst, 
the northern Brenthus, so named because most of the other 
species are tropical insects. It is of a mahogany-brown color ; 
the wing-cases are somewhat darker, ornamented with narrow 
tawny yellow spots, and marked with deep furrows, the sides 'of 
which are punctured ; the thorax is nearly egg-shaped, broadest 
behind the middle, and highly polished. The common length 
of this insect, including the snout, is six tenths of an inch ; but 
much larger as well as smaller specimens frequently occur. 



* A mistake undoubtedly for scptcmtrionalis. It is the Brenthus maxillosus of 
Olivier and Schonlierr. 



60 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The northern Brenthus inhabits the white oak, on the trunks 
and under the bark of which it may be found in June and 
July, having then completed its transformations. The female, 
wheji about to lay her eggs, punctures the bark with her slender 
snout, and drops an egg in each hole thus made. The grub, 
as soon as it is hatched, bores into the solid wood, forming a 
cylindrical passage, which it keeps clear by pushing its castings 
out of the orifice of the hole, as fast as they accumulate. 
These castings or chips are like very fine saw-dust; and the 
holes made by the insects are easily discovered by the dust 
around them. When fully gi'own, the grub measures rather 
more than an inch in length, and not quite one tenth of an inch 
in thickness. It is nearly cylindrical, being only a little flat- 
tened on the under side, and is of a whitish color, except the 
last segment, which is dark chestnut-brown. Each of the first 
three segments is provided with a pair of legs, and there is a 
fleshy prop-leg under the hinder extremity of the body. The 
last segment is of a horny consistence, and is obliquely hol- 
lowed at the end, so as to form a kind of gouge or scoop, the 
edges of which are furnished with little notches or teeth. It is 
by means of this singular scoop that the grub shovels the 
minute grains of the wood out of its burrow. The pupa is 
met with in the burrow formed by the larva. It is of a yel- 
lowish white color; the head is bent under the thorax, and the 
snout rests on the breast between the folded legs and wings ; 
the back is furnished with transverse rows of little thorns or 
sharp teeth, and there are two larger thorns at the extremity of 
the body. These minute thorns probably enable the pupa to 
move towards the mouth of its burrow when it is about to be 
transformed, and may serve also to keep its body steady during 
its exertions in casting ofl' its pupte skin. These insects are 
most abundant in trees that have been cut down for timber or 
fuel, which are generally attacked during the first summer after 
they are felled ; it has also been ascertained that living trees 
do not always escape, but those that are in full vigor are rarely 
perforated by grubs of this kind. The credit of discovering 
the habits and transformations of the northern Brenthus is due 
to the Rev. L. W. Leonard, of Dublin, New Hampshire, who 



COLEOPTERA. 61 

has favored me with specimens in all their forms. This insect 
is now known to inhabit nearly all the States in the Union. 
I am inclined to think that the Brenthians ought to be placed 
at the end of the weevil tribe ; but I have not ventured to alter 
the arrangement generally adopted. 

The rest of the weevils are short and thick beetles, diff'ering 
from all the preceding in their antennae, which are bent or 
elbowed near the middle, the first joint being much longer than 
the rest. Their feelers are not perceptible. They belong to 
the family Curculionid.k, so called from the principal genus 
CurcuHo, a name given by the Romans to the corn-weevil. 
The Curculionians vary in the form, length, and direction of 
their snouts. Those belonging to the old genus CurcuUo have 
short and thick snouts, at the extremity of which, and near to 
the sides of the mouth, the antennae are implanted; those to 
which the name of Rynchcenus was formerly applied have 
longer and more slender snouts, usually bearing the antennae 
on or just behind the middle ; and the third great genus, called 
Calandra, contains long-snouted beetles, whose antennae are 
fixed just before the eyes at the base of the snout. 

CurcuHo (Pandeleteius) hilaris of Herbst, which we may call 
the gray-sided Curculio, is a little pale brown beetle, variegated 
with gray upon the sides. Its snout is short, broad, and slightly 
furrowed in the middle ; there are three blackish stripes on the 
thorax, between which are two of a light gray color; the wing- 
covers have a broad stripe of light gray on the outer side, edged 
within by a slender blackish line, and sending two short oblique 
branches almost across each wing-cover; and the fore-legs are 
much larger than the others. The length of this beetle varies 
from one eighth to one fifth of an 'inch. The larva lives in 
the trunks of the white oak, on which the beetles may be found 
about the last of May and the beginning of June. 

The Pales weevil, Curculio [Hylohius) Pales of Herbst, is a 
beetle of a deep chestnut-brown color, having a line and a few 
dots of a yellowish white color on the thorax, and many small 
yellowish white spots sprinkled over the wing-covers. All the 
thighs are toothed beneath, and the snout is slender, cylindrical, 
inclined, and nearly as long as the thorax. On account of the 



62 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

length of the snout this insect has been placed in the genus 
Rhynchcenus by some naturalists ; but the antennsB are implanted 
before the middle of the snout, and not far from the sides of 
the mouth. This beetle measures from two to three eighths 
of an inch in length, exclusive of the snout. It may be found 
in great abundance, in May and June, on board-fences, the 
sides of new wooden buUdings, and on the trunks of pine-trees. 
I have discovered them, in considerable numbers, under the 
bark of the pitch-pine. The larv«, which do not materially 
differ from those of other weevils, inhabit these and probably 
other kinds of pines, doing sometimes immense injiuy to them. 
Wilson, the ornithologist, describes the depredations of these 
insects, in his account* of the ivory -billed wood-pecker, in the 
followina: words. " Would it be believed that the larvae of an 
insect, or fly, no larger than a grain of rice, shoidd silently, and 
in one season, destroy some thousand acres of pine trees, many 
of them from two to three feet in diameter, and a hundred and 
fifty feet high ! Yet whoever passes along the high road from 
Georgetown to Charleston, in South Carolina, about twenty 
miles from the former place, can have striking and melancholy 
proofs of the fact. In some places the whole woods, as far as 
you can see around you, are dead, stripped of the bark, their 
wintry-looking arms and bare trunks bleaching in the sun, and 
tumbling in ruins before every blast, presenting a frightful 
picture of desolation. Until some effectual preventive or more 
complete remedy can be devised against these insects, and 
their larvae, I would humbly suggest the propriety of protecting, 
and receiving with proper feelings of gratitude, the services of 
this and the whole tribe of wood-peckers, letting the odium of 
guilt fall to its proper owners." Some years ago Mr. Nuttall 
kindly procured for me, near the place above-mentioned, speci- 
mens of the destructive insects referred to by Wilson. They 
were of three kinds. Those in greatest abundance were the 
Pales weevil. One of the others was a larger, darker-colored 
weevil, without white spots on it, and named Hijlobius picivorus., 
by Germar and Schonherr, or the pitch-eating weevil; it is 

* American Ornithology. Vol. IV. p. 21. 



COLEOPTERA. 63 

seldom found in Massachusetts. The thu-d was the white pine 
weevil to be next described. It is said that these beetles punc- 
ture the buds and the tender bark of the small branches, and 
feed upon the juice, and that the young shoots are often so 
much injiu-ed by them as to die and break off at the wounded 
part. But it is in the larva state that they are found to be 
most hurtful to the pines. The larvae live under the bark, 
devouring its soft inner surface, and the tender newly formed 
wood. When they abound, as they do in some of our pine 
forests, they separate large pieces of bark from the wood be- 
neath, in consequence of which the part perishes, and the tree 
itself soon languishes and dies. 

The white pine weevil, Rhynch(Enus (Pissodes) Strobi* of 
Professor Peck, unites with the two preceding insects in de- 
stroying the pines of this country, as above described. But it 
employs also another mode of attack on the ^vhite pine, of 
which an interesting account is given by the late Professor 
Peck, the first describer of the insect, in the fourth volume of 
the " Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal," 
accompanied by figures of the insect. The lofty stature of 
the white pine, and the straightness of its trunk, depend, as 
Professor Peck has remarked, upon the constant health of its 
leading shoot, for a long succession of years ; and if this shoot 
be destroyed, the tree becomes stunted and deformed in its 
subsequent growth. This accident is not uncommon, and is 
caused by the ravages of the white pine weevil. This beetle 
is oblong oval, rather slender, of a brownish color, thickly 
punctured, and variegated with small brown, rust-colored, and 
whitish scales. There are two white dots on the thorax ; the 
scutel is white ; and on the wing-covers, which are punctured 
in rows, there is a whitish transverse band behind the middle. 
The snout is longer than the thorax, slender, and a very little 
inclined. The length of this insect, exclusive of its snout, 
varies from one fifth to three tenths of an inch. Its eggs are 
deposited on the leading shoot of the pine, probably immedi- 
ately under the outer bark. The larvae, hatched therefrom, 

* Pissodes nemorensis of Germar. 



64 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

bore into the shoot in various directions, and probably remain 
in the wood more than one year. When the feeding state is 
passed, but before the insect is changed to a pupa, it gnaws a 
passage from the inside quite to the bark, which, however, 
remaining untouched, serves to shelter the little borers from the 
weather. After they have changed to beetles, they have only 
to cut away the outer bark to make their escape. They begin 
to come out early in September, and continue to leave the 
wood through that month and a part of October. The shoot 
at this time will be found pierced with small round holes on 
all sides; sometimes thirty or forty may be counted on one 
shoot. Professor Peck has observed that an unlimited increase 
is not permitted to this destructive insect; and that if it were, 
our forests would not produce a single mast. One of the 
means appointed to restrain the increase of the white pine 
weevil is a species of ichneumon-fly, endued with sagacity to 
discover the retreat of the larva, the body of which it stings, 
and therein deposits an egg. From the latter a grub is hatched, 
which devours the larva of the weevil, and is subsequently 
transformed to a four-winged fly, in the habitation prepared 
for it. The most effectual remedy against the increase of theSe 
weevils is to cut off' the shoot in August, or as soon as it is 
perceived to be dead, and commit it, with its inhabitants, to 
the fire. Such is the substance of Professor Peck's history of 
this insect; to which may be added, that the beetles are found 
in great numbers, in April and May, on fences, buildings, and 
pine-trees ; that they probably secrete themselves during the 
winter in the crevices of the bark, or about the roots of the 
trees, and deposit their eggs in the spring ; or they may not 
usually leave the trees before spring. 

Perhaps the method used for decoying the pine-eating beetles 
in Europe may be practised here with advantage. It consists 
in sticking some newly cut branches of pine-trees in the ground, 
in an open place, during the season when the insects are about 
to lay their eggs. In a few hours these branches will be cov- 
ered with the beetles, which may be shaken into a cloth and 
burned. 



COLEOPTERA. 65 

There are some of the long-snouted weevils which inhabit 
nuts of various kinds. Hence they are called nut-weevils, and 
belong chiefly to the modern genus Balaninns, a name that 
signifies living or being in a nut. The common nut-weevil of 
Europe lays her eggs in the hazel-nut and filbert, having pre- 
viously bored a hole for that purpose with her long and slender 
snout, while the fruit is young and tender, and dropping only 
one egg in each nut thus pricked. A little grub is soon hatched 
from the egg, and begins immediately to devour the soft kernel. 
Notwithstanding this, the nut continues to increase in size, and, 
by the time that it is ripe and ready to fall, its little inhabitant 
also comes to its growth, gnaws a round hole in the shell, 
through which it afterwards makes its escape, and burrows in 
the ground. Here it remains unchanged through the winter, 
and in the following summer, having completed its transfor- 
mations, it comes out of the ground a beetle. 

In this country weevil-grubs are very common in hazel-nuts, 
chestnuts, and acorns ; but I have not hitherto been able to 
rear any of them to the beetle state. The most common of 
the nut-weevils known to me appears to be the Rhynchcenns 
[Balaninus) nasicus of Say ; the long-snouted nut-weevil. Its 
form is oval, and its ground color dark brown ; but it is clothed 
with very short rust-yellow flattened hairs, which more or less 
conceal its original color, and are disposed in spots on its wing- 
covers. The snout is brown and polished, longer than the 
whole body, as slender as a bristle, of equal thickness from one 
end to the other, and slightly curved ; it bears the long elbowed 
antennse, which are as fine as a hair, just behind the middle. 
This beetle measures nearly three tenths of an inch in length, 
exclusive of the snout. Specimens have been found paired 
upon the hazel-nut tree in July, at which time probably the 
eggs are laid. Others appear in September and October, and 
must pass the winter concealed in some secure place. From 
its size and resemblance to the nut-weevil of Europe, this is 
supposed to be the species which attacks the hazel-nut here. 

It is now well known that the falling of unripe plums is 
caused by little whitish grubs, which bore into the fruit. The 
loss, occasioned by insects of this kind, is frequently very great ; 
9 



6Q INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

and, in some of our gardens and orchards, the crop of plums 
is often entirely ruined by the depredations of the grubs, which 
have been ascertained to be the larvae or young of a small 
beetle of the weevil tribe, called Rhi/nchcsnns ( Conotrachelus) 
Nenuphar* the Nenuphar or plum-weevil. This weevil, or 
curculio, as it is often called, is a little rough, dark brown, or 
blackish beetle, looking like a dried bud, when it is shaken 
from the trees, which resemblance is increased by its habit of 
drawing up its legs and bending its snout close to the lower 
side of its body, and remaining for a time without motion, 
and seemingly lifeless. It is from three twentieths to one fifth 
of an inch long, exclusive of the curved snout, which is rather 
longer than the thorax, and is bent under the breast, between 
the fore legs, when at rest. Its color is a dark brown, varie- 
gated with spots of white, ochre-yellow, and black. The 
thorax is uneven ; the wing-covers have several short ridges 
upon them, those on the middle of the back forming two con- 
siderable humps, of a black color, behind which there is a wide 
band of ochre-yellow and white. Each of the thighs has two 
little teeth on the under side. I have found these beetles as 
early as the thu'tieth of March, and as late as the tenth of 
June, and at various intermediate times, according with the 
forwardness or backwardness of vegetation in the spring, and 
have frequently caught them flying in the middle of the day. 
They begin to sting the plums as soon as the fruit is set, and 
continue their operations to the middle of July, or, as some 
say, till the first of August. In doing this, the beetle first 
makes a small crescent-shaped incision, with its snout, in the 
skin of the plum, and then, turning round, inserts an egg in 
the wound. From one plum it goes to another, until its store 
of eggs is exhausted ; so that, where these beetles abound, not 
a plum will escape being stung. Very rarely is there more 
than one incision made in the same fruit ; and the weevil lays 
only a single egg therein. The insect hatched from this egg is 



* First described by Herbst, in 1797, under the name of Curculio Nenuphar ; 
Fabricius redescribed it under that of Rhynchcenus Argula; and Dejean has 
named it Conotrachelus variegatus. 



I 



COLEOPTERA. 67 

a little whitish grub, destitute of feet, and very much like a 
maggot in appearance, except that it has a distinct, rounded, 
light brown head. It immediately burrows obliquely into the 
fruit, and finally penetrates to the stone. The irritation, 
arising from the wounds and from the gnawings of the grubs, 
causes the young fruit to become gummy, diseased, and finally 
to drop before it is ripe. Meanwhile, the grub comes to its 
growth, and, immediately after the falling of the fruit, quits 
the latter and burrows in the ground. This may occur at 
various times between the middle of June and of August; 
and, in about three weeks afterguards, the insect completes its 
transformations, and comes out of the ground in the beetle 
form. 

The earliest account of the habits of the plum-weevil, that 
I have seen, was written by Dr. James Tilton, of Wilmington, 
Delaware. It will be found, under the article Fruity in Dr. 
James Mease's edition of Willich's " Domestic Encyclopaedia," 
published at Philadelphia in 1803. The same account has 
been reprinted in the " Georgick Papers for 1809" of the Mas- 
sachusetts Agricultural Society, and in other works. Accord- 
ing to Dr. Tilton, this insect attacks not only nectariaes, plums, 
apricots, and cherries, but also peaches, apples, pears, and 
quinces, the truth of which has been abundantly confirmed by 
later vvriters. I have myself ascertained that the cherry-worm^ 
so called, which is very common in this fruit when gathered 
from the tree, produces, at maturity, the same curculio as that 
of the plum ; but, unlike the latter, it rarely causes the stung 
cherry to drop prematurely to the ground. The late Dr. Joel 
Burnet, of Southborough, the author of two interesting articles 
on the plum-weevil,* sent to me, in the summer of 1839, some 
specimens of the insect, in the chrysalis state, which were 
raised from the small grubs in apples ; and, since that time, I 
have seen the same grubs in apples, pears, and quinces, in this 



* New England Farmer, Vol. XVIII, p. 304, March 11, 1840; and Hovey's 
Magazine of Horticulture, Vol. IX. p. 281, August, 1843, reprinted in the New 
England Farmer, Vol. XXII, p. 49, August 16, 1843, #nd in the Transactions of 
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, for 1843-1846, p. 18. 



68 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

vicinity. They are not to be mistaken for the more common 
apple-worms^ from which they are easily distinguished by their 
inferior size, and by their want of feet. In 1831, Mr. Thomas 
Say, in a note on the plum-weevil, stated that it " depredates 
on the plum and peach and other stone-fruits ;" and, that his 
"kinsman, the late excellent Wm. Bartram, informed him it 
also destroys the English walnut in this country."* 

Observers do not agree concerning some points in the econo- 
my of this insect, such as the time required for it to complete 
its transformations, the condition and place wherein it passes 
the winter, and the agency of the curculio in producing the 
warts or excrescences on plum and cherry trees. The average 
time passed by the insect in the ground, during the summer, 
has appeared to me to be about three weeks ; but the transfor- 
mation may be accelerated or retarded by temperatui'e and 
situation. It has also been my impression that the late broods 
remained in the ground all winter, and that from them are 
produced the beetles which sting the fru.it in the following 
spring. Dr. Burnet's observations coincide with this opinion. 
According to him, the insect "undergoes transformation in 
about fifteen or twenty days, in the month of June or fore part 
of July ; but all the larvae (as far as he had observed), that go 
into the earth as late as the 20th of July, do not ascend that 
season, but remain there in the pupa stage until next spring." 
Dr. Tilton, in his account of the curculio, stated that " it re- 
mains in the earth, in the form of a grub, during the winter, 
ready to be metamorphosed into a beetle as the spring ad- 
vances." According to M. H. Simpson, Esq., of SaxonviUe, 
the larvae, or grubs, " go through their chrysalis state in three 
weeks after going into the ground, and remain in a torpid state 
through the season, unless the earth is disturbed."! Dr. E. 
Sanborn, of Andover, has come to entirely different conclu- 
sions, from a series of experiments made upon these insects. It 
is his opinion that they do not remain in the ground, during 
the winter, either in the grub or in the beetle state ; but that, 

* Descriptions of Curoulionites, p. 19. 8vo. New Harmony, 1831. 
t Hovey's Magazine, Vol. XVI, p. 257, June, 1850. 



COLEOPTERA. 69 

under all conditions of place and temperature, "in about six 
weeks" after they have entered the earth " they return to the 
surface perfectly finished, winged, and equipped for the work 
of destruction ;" and that, " as neither the curculio nor its grub 
burrows in the ground during the winter, the common practice 
of guarding against its ravages, by various operations in the 
soil, rests upon a false theory, and is productive of no valuable 
results."* If these conclusions be correct, these insects must 
pass the winter, above ground, in the beetle state, and the 
place of their concealment, during this season, remains to be 
discovered. 

In July, 1818, Professor W. D. Peck obtained, from the warty 
excrescences of the cherry-tree, the same insects that he " had 
long known to occasion the fall of peaches, apricots, and 
plums, before they had acquired half their growth ;" and, not 
aware that this species had already received a scientific name, 
he called it Rhynchcenus Cerasi, the cherry-weevil. His ac- 
count of it, with a figure, may be seen in the fifth volume of 
the " Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal." 
The grubs, found by Professor Peck in the tumors of the 
cherry-tree, went into the ground on the sixth of July, and on 
the thirtieth of the same month, or twenty-four days from 
their leaving the bark, the perfect insects began to rise, and 
were soon ready to deposit their eggs. 

The plum, still more than the cherry tree, is subject to a dis- 
ease of the small limbs, that shows itself in the form of large 
irregular warts, of a black color. Professor Peck referred this 
disease, as well as that of the cherry-tree, to the agency of 
insects, but was uncertain whether to attribute it to his cherry- 
weevil " or to another species of the same genus." It was his 
opinion that " the seat of the disease is in the bark. The sap 
is diverted from its regular course, and is absorbed entirely by 
the bark, which is very much increased in thickness ; the cuticle 
bursts, the swelling becomes irregular, and is formed into black 



* See Dr. Sanborn's interesting communications on the Plum Curculio, in the 
Boston Cultivator, for May 19, 1849, and July 13, 1850, and in the Puritan 
Recorder, for May 2, and the Cambridge Chronicle for May 30, 1850. 



70 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

lumps, with a cracked, uneven, granulated surface. The wood, 
besides being deprived of its nutriment, is very much com- 
pressed, and the branch above the tumor perishes." Dr. Burnet 
rejected the idea of the insect origin of this disease, which he 
considered as a kind of fungus, arising in the alburnum, from 
an obstruction of the vessels, and bursting through the bark, 
which became involved in the disease. These tumors appear 
to me to begin between the bark and wood. They are at first 
soft, cellular, and full of sap, but finally become hard and 
woody. But whether caused by vitiated sap, as Dr. Burnet 
supposed, or by the irritating punctures of insects, which is the 
prevailing opinion, or whatever be their origin and seat, they 
form an appropriate bed for the growth of numerous little 
parasitical plants or fungi, to which botanists give the name 
of Sphceria morbosa. These plants are the minute black gran- 
ules that cover the surface of the wart, and give to it its black 
color. When fuUy matured, they are filled with a gelatinous 
fluid, and have a little pit or depression on their summit. 
They come to their growth, discharge their volatile seed, and 
die in the course of a single summer ; and with them perishes 
the tumor whence they sprung. It is worthy of remark that 
they are sure to appear on these warts in due time, and that 
they are never found on any other part of the tree. 

Lisects are often found in the warts of the plum-tree, as 
weU as in those of the cherry-tree. The larvae of a minute 
Cyfiips, or gall-fly, is said to inhabit them,| but have never 
fallen under my observation. The naked caterpillars of a 
minute moth are very common in the warts of the plum-tree, 
in which also are sometimes found other insects, among them 
little grubs from which genuine plum-weevils have been raised. 
This is a very interesting fact in the economy of the plum- 
weevil. It may be questioned, however, whether it be a mere 
mistake of instinct that leads the curculio to lay its eggs in 
the warts of the plum-tree, or a special provision of a wise 
Providence to secure thereby a succession of the species in 
unfruitful seasons. 

t Schweinitz, Synopsis Fungorum ; in Transactions of the American Philo- 
sopMcal Society, Philadelphia. New Series, Vol. IV. p. 204. 



COLEOPTERA. 71 

The following, among other remedies that have been sug- 
gested, may be found useful in checking the ravages of the 
plum-weevil. Let the trees be briskly shaken or suddenly 
jarred every morning and evening during the time that the 
insects appear in the beetle form, and are engaged in laying 
their eggs. When thus disturbed, they contract their legs and 
fall ; and, as they do not immediately attempt to fly or crawl 
away, they may be caught in a sheet spread under the tree, 
from which they should be gathered into a large wide-mouthed 
bottle or other tight vessel, and be thrown into the fire. 
Keeping the fruit covered with a coat of whitewash, which 
is to be applied with a syringe as often as necessary, has been 
much recommended of late to repel the attacks of the curculio. 
A little glue, added to the whitewash, causes it to stick better 
and last longer. We may succeed by this remedy in securing 
a crop of plums ; but as we cannot apply it to cherries and 
apples, they will be sure to suffer more than ever, and hence 
no check will be given to the increase of the weevil. All the 
fallen fruit should be immediately gathered and thrown into a 
tight vessel, and after they are boiled or steamed to kill the 
enclosed grubs, they may be given as food to swine. Many 
of the grubs will be found in the bottom of the vessel in which 
the fallen fruit has been deposited. Not one of these should 
be allowed to escape to the ground, but they should all be 
killed before they have time to complete their transformations. 
The diseased excrescences on the trees should be cut out, and 
as they often contain insects, they should be burnt. If the 
wounds are washed with strong brine, the formation of new 
warts will be checked. The moose plum-tree [Primus Ameri- 
cana) seems to be free from warts, even when growing in the 
immediate vicinity of diseased foreign trees. It would, there- 
fore, be the best of stocks for budding or engrafting upon. It 
can be easily raised from the stone, and grows rapidly, but 
does not attain a great size. 

Among the many insects that have been charged with being 
the cause of the wide-spread pestilence, commonly called the 
potato-rot, there is a kind of weevil that lives in the stalk of 
the potato. The history of this little insect was first made 



12 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

known by Miss Margaretta H. Morris, of Germantown, Penn- 
sylvania. In August, 1849, her attention was called to this 
subject by Mr. Williamson, the principal of the Mount Airy 
Agricultural Institute, "who discovered small grubs in the 
potato-vines on his farm, and naturally feared injurious con- 
sequences." On the 28th of the same month and year. Miss 
Morris sent to me some specimens of the insects in a piece of 
the potato stalk, wherein they underwent their transformations. 
They proved to be the beetles, described by Mr. Say under the 
name of Baridius trinotatns, so called from their having three 
black dots on their backs. This kind of beetle is about three 
twentieths of an inch long. Its body is covered with short 
whitish hairs, which give to it a gray appearance. One of 
the black dots is on the scutel, and the others are on the hinder 
angles of the thorax ; and, by these, it can be readily distin- 
guished from other species. According to Miss Morris, it lays 
its eggs singly on the plant at the base of a leaf. The grubs 
burrow into and consume the inner substance of the stalk, 
proceeding downwards towards the root. In many fields, in 
the neighborhood of Germantown, every stem was found to 
be infested by these insects, causing the premature decay of 
the vines, and giving to them the appearance of having been 
scalded. The insects undergo all their transformations in the 
stalks. Their pupa state lasts from fourteen to twenty days, 
and they take the beetle form during the last of August and 
beginning of September. These insects, though common 
enough in the Middle States, I have never found in New 
England, in the course of thirty years of observation, and have 
failed to discover them here since my attention was called to 
their depredations by Miss Morris. That they may become 
very injurious to the potato crop where they abound, will be 
readily admitted ; but, as they do not occur either in aU places 
here or in Europe, where the potato-rot has prevailed, they 
cannot be justly said to produce this disease.* 
The most pernicious of the Rhynchophorians, or snout-beetles, 

* See my communication on this insect, &c., in the New England Farmer, for 
June 22, 1850, Vol. II. p. 204. 



COLEOPTERA. 73 

are the insects properly called grain-weevils, belonging to the 
old genus Calandra. These insects must not be confounded 
with the still more destructive larvte of the corn-moth ( Tinea 
g-ranel/a), which also attacks stored grain, nor with the orange- 
colored maggots of the wheat-fly ( Cecidomyia Tritici), which 
are found in the ears of growing wheat. Although the grain- 
weevils are not actually injmious to vegetation, yet as the 
name properly belonging to them has often been misapplied 
in this country, thereby creating no little confusion, some 
remarks upon them may tend to prevent future mistakes. 

The true grain-weevil or wheat-weevil of Europe, Calandra 
(Sitophilus) granaria, or Ciircidio g-ranarii(s of Linna?us, in its 
perfected state is a slender beetle of a pitchy red color, about 
one eighth of an inch long, with a slender snout slightly bent 
downwards, a coarsely punctured and very long thorax, con- 
stituting almost one half the length of the whole body, and 
wing-covers that are furrowed and do not entirely cover the 
tip of the abdomen. This little insect, both in the beetle and 
grub state, devours stored wheat and other grains, and often 
commits much havoc in granaries and brewhouses. Its powers 
of multiplication are very great, for it is stated that a single 
pair of these destroyers may produce above six thousand de- 
scendants in one year. The female deposits her eggs upon 
the wheat after it is housed, and the young grubs hatched 
therefrom immediately burrow into the ^vheat, each individual 
occupying alone a single grain, the substance of which it 
devours, so as often to leave nothing but the hull ; and this 
destruction goes on within, while no external appearance leads 
to its discovery, and the loss of \veight is the only evidence of 
the mischief that has been done to the grain. In due time the 
grubs undergo their transformations, and come out of the hulls, 
in the beetle state, to lay their eggs for another brood. These 
insects are effectually destroyed by kiln-drying the wheat ; and 
grain, that is kept cool, well ventilated, and is frequently moved, 
is said to be exempt from attack. 

Rice is attacked by an insect closely resembling the wheat- 
weevil, from which, however, it is distinguished by having two 
large red spots on each wing-cover; it is also somewhat smaller, 
10 



74 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

measuring only about one tenth of an inch in length, exclusive 
of the snout. This beetle, the Calandra {Sitophilus) Oryzcs* 
or rice-weevil, is not entirely confined to rice, but depredates 
upon wheat, and also on Indian corn. In the Southern States 
it is called the black 2veevil, to distinguish it from other insects 
that infest grain. I am not aware that these weevils attack 
wheat in New England ; but I have seen stored Southern corn 
swarming with them; and, should they multiply and extend 
in this section of the country, they will become a source of 
serious injury to one of the most valuable of our staple pro- 
ductions. It is said that this weevil lays its eggs on the rice 
in the fields, as soon as the grain begins to swell. If this 
indeed be true, we have very little to fear from it here, our 
Indian corn being so well protected by the husks that it would 
probably escape from any injury, if attacked. On the contrary, 
if the insects multiply in stored grain, then our utmost care 
will be necessary to prevent them from infesting our own gar- 
ners. The parent beetle bores a hole into the grain, and drops 
therein a single egg, going from one grain to another till all 
her eggs are laid. She then dies, leaving, however, the rice 
well seeded for a future harvest of weevil-grubs. In due time 
the eggs are hatched, the grubs live securely and unseen in the 
centre of the rice, devouring a considerable portion of its sub- 
stance, and when fully grown they gnaw a little hole through 
the end of the grain, artfully stopping it up again with parti- 
cles of rice-flour, and then are changed to pupae. This usually 
occurs during the winter; and in the following spring the 
insects are transformed to beetles, and come out of the grain. 
By winnowing and sifting the rice in the spring, the beetles 
can be separated, and then shovild be gathered immediately 
and destroyed. 

The sudden change of the temperature that generally occurs 
in the early part of May, brings out great numbers of insects, 
from their winter-quarters, to enjoy the sunshine and the ardent 
heat which are congenial to their natures. While a continued 
hum is heard, among the branches of the trees, from thousands 

* Curculio OryzcB of Linnaeus. 



COLEOPTERA. 75 

of bees and flies, drawn thither by the fragrance of the bursting 
buds and the tender foliage, and the very ground beneath our 
feet seems teeming with insect life, swarms of little beetles of 
various kinds come forth to try their wings, and, with an un- 
certain and heavy flight, launch into the air. Among these 
beetles there are many of a dull red or fox color, nearly cylin- 
drical in form, tapering a very little before, obtusely rounded 
at both extremities, and about one quarter of an inch in length. 
They are seen slowly creeping upon the sides of wooden build- 
ings, resting on the tops of fences, or w^heeling about in the 
air, and every now and then suddenly alighting on some tree 
or wall, or dropping to the ground. If we go to an old pine- 
tree we may discover from whence they have come, and what 
they have been about during the past period of their lives. 
Here they will be found creeping out of thousands of small 
round holes which they have made through the bark for then* 
escape. Upon raising a piece of the bark, already loosened 
by tlie undermining of these insects, we find it pierced with 
holes in every du-ection, and even the surface of the wood will 
be seen to have been gnawed by these little miners. After 
enjoying themselves abroad for a few days, they pair, and 
begin to lay their eggs. The pitch-pine is most generally 
chosen by them for this purpose, but they also attack other 
kinds of pines. They gnaw little holes here and there through 
the rough bark of the trunk and limbs, drop their eggs therein, 
and, after this labor is finished, they become exhausted and 
die. In the autumn the grubs hatched from these eggs will 
be found fully grown. They have a short, thick, nearly cylin- 
drical body, wrinkled on the back, are somewhat curved, and 
of a yellowish white color, with a horny darker colored head, 
and are destitute of feet. They devour the soft inner substance 
of the bark, boring through it in various directions for this 
purpose, and, when they have come to their full size, they 
gnaw a passage to the sLuface for their escape after they have 
completed their transformations. These take place deep in 
their burrows late in the autumn, at which time the insects 
may be found in various states of maturity, within the bark. 
Their depredations interrupt the descent of the sap, and pre- 



76 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

vent the formation of new wood; the bark becomes loosened 
from the wood, to a greater or less extent, and the tree lan- 
guishes and prematm-ely decays. The name of this insect is 
Hi/Inrg-us terebrans* the boring Hylurgus ; the generical name 
signifying a carpenter, or worker in wood. It belongs to the 
family Scolytid^e, including various kinds of destructive in- 
sects, which may be called cylindrical bark-beetles. The 
insects of this family may be recognized by the following 
characters. The body is nearly cylindrical, obtuse before and 
behind, and generally of some shade of brown. The head is 
rounded, sunk pretty deeply in the fore part of the thorax, and 
does not end with a snout; the antennte are short, more or less 
crooked or curved in the middle, and end with an oval knob; 
the feelers are very short. The thorax is rather long, and as 
broad as the following part of the body. The wing-covers are 
frequently cut oft' obliquely or hollowed at the hinder extremity. 
The legs are short and strong, with little teeth on the outer 
edge or extremity of the shanks, and the feet are not wide and 
spongy beneath. 

Though these cylindrical bark-beetles are of small size, they 
multiply very fast, and where they abound are productive of 
much mischief, particularly in forests, which are often greatly 
injured by their larvae, and the wood is rendered unfit for the 
purposes of art. In the year 1780, an insect of this family 
made its appearance in the pine-trees of one of the mining 
districts of Germany, where it increased so rapidly that in 
three years afterwards whole forests had disappeared beneath 
its ravages, and an end was nearly put to the working of the 
extensive mines in this range of country, for the want of fuel 
to carry on the operations. Pines and firs are the most sub- 
ject to their attacks, but there are some kinds which infest 
other trees. The premature decay of the elm in some parts 
of Europe is occasioned by the ravages of the Scolytus de- 
structor, of which an interesting account was wTitten in 1824, 
by Mr. Macleay. An abstract of his paper may be found in 

* Scolytus terebrans of Olivier. 



COLEOPTERA. 77 

the fifth volume of the " New England Farmer." * The larvae 
or grubs of these bark-beetles resemble those of the Hijlurgns 
terebrans or pine bark-beetle already described. Like the 
grubs of the weevils, they are short and thick, and destitute 
of legs. 

The red cedar is inhabited by a very small bark-beetle, named 
by Mr. Say Hylurgus dentatus, the toothed Hylurgus. It is 
nearly one tenth of an inch in length, and of a dark brown 
color; the wing-cases are rough with little grains, which be- 
come more elevated towards the hinder part, and are arranged 
in longitudinal rows, with little furrows between them. The 
tooth-like appearance of these little elevations suggested the 
name given to this species. The female bores a cylindrical 
passage beneath the bark of the cedar, dropping her eggs at 
short intervals as she goes along, and dies at the end of her 
burrow when her eggs are all laid. The grubs hatched from 
these proceed in feeding nearly at right angles, forming on 
each side numerous parallel furrows, smaller than the central 
tube of the female. They complete their transformations in 
October, and eat their way through the bark, which will then 
be seen to be perforated with thousands of little round holes, 
through which the beetles have escaped. 

Under the bark of the pitch-pine I have found, in company 
with the pine bark-beetle, a more slender bark-beetle, of a dark 
chestnut-brown color, clothed with a few short yellowish hairs, 
with a long, almost egg-shaped thorax, which is very rough 
before, and short wing-covers, deeply punctured in rows, hol- 
lowed out at the tip like a gouge, and beset around the outer 
edge of the hollow with sLx little teeth on each side. This 
beetle measm-es one fifth of an inch, or rather more, in length. 
It arrives at maturity in the autumn, but does not come out of 
the bark till the following spring, at which time it lays its eggs. 
It is the Tomicus exesus, or excavated Tomicus; the specific 
name, signifying eaten out or excavated, was given to it by 
Mr. Say on account of the hollowed and bitten appearance of 
the end of its wing-covers. Its grubs eat zigzag and wavy 

* Page 169. 



78 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

passages, parallel to each other, between the bark and the 
wood. They are much less common in the New England than 
in the Middle and Southern States, where they abound in the 
yellow pines. 

Another bark-beetle is found here, closely resembling the 
preceding, from which it differs chiefly in the inferiority of its 
size, being but three twentieths of an inch in length, and in 
having only three or four teeth at the outer extremity of each 
wing-cover. It is the Tomicns Pini of Mr. Say. The grubs 
of this insect are very injurious to pine-trees. I have found 
them under the bark of the white and pitch pine, and they 
have also been discovered in the larch. The beetles appear 
during the month of August. 

There is another small bark-beetle, the Tomicus liminaris of 
my Catalogue, which has been found, in great numbers, by 
IVliss Morris, under the bark of peach-trees, affected with the 
disease called the yellows, and hence supposed by her to be 
connected with this malady.* I have found it under the bark 
of a diseased elm; but have nothing more to offer, from my 
own observations, concerning its history, except that it com- 
pletes its transformations in August and September. It is of 
a dark brown color; the thorax is pvmctured, and the wing- 
covers are marked with deeply punctured fm-rows, and are 
beset with short hairs. It does not average one tenth of an 
inch in length. 

The pear-tree in New England has been found to be subject 
to a pecuhar malady, which shows itself during midsummer by 
the sudden withering of the leaves and fruit, and the discolor- 
ation of the bark of one or more of the limbs, followed by the 
immediate death of the part affected. This kind of blight, as 
it has been called, being oftenest confined to a single branch, 
or to the extremity of a branch, seems to be a local affection 
only. It ends with the death of the branch, down to a certain 
point, but does not extend below the seat of attack, and does 
not affect the health of other parts of the tree. In June, 1816, 



* See Miss Morris on the Yellows, in Downing's Horticulturist. Vol. IV. p» 
502. 



COLEOPTERA. 79 

the Hon. John Lowell, of Roxbury, discovered a minute insect 
in one of the affected limbs of a pear-tree ; afterwards, he re- 
peatedly detected the same insects in blasted limbs, and his 
discoveries have been confirmed by Mr. Henry Wheeler and 
the late Dr. Oliver Fiske, of Worcester, and by many other 
persons. Mr. Lowell submitted the limb and the insect con- 
tained therein to the examination of Professor Peck, who gave 
an account and figure of the latter, in the fourth volume of the 
" Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal." From 
this account, and from the subsequent communication by Mr. 
Lowell, in the fifth volume of the " New England Farmer," it 
appears that the grub or larva of the insect eats its way inward 
through the alburnum or sap-wood into the hardest part of the 
wood, beginning at the root of a bud, behind which probably 
the egg was deposited, following the course of the eye of the 
bud towards the pith, around which it passes, and part of 
which it also consumes ; thus forming, after penetrating through 
the alburnum, a circular burrow or passage in the heart-wood, 
contiguous to the pith which it surrounds. By this means the 
central vessels, or those which convey the ascending sap, are 
divided, and the circulation is cut off. This takes place when 
the increasing heat of the atmosphere, producing a greater 
transpiration from the leaves, renders a large and continued 
flow of sap necessary to supply the evaporation. For the 
want of this, or from some other unexplained cause, the whole 
of the limb above the seat of the insect's operations suddenly 
withers, and perishes during the intense heat of midsummer. 
The larva is changed to a pupa, and subsequently to a little 
beetle, in the bottom of its burrow, makes its escape from the 
tree in the latter part of June, or beginning of July, and pro- 
bably deposits its eggs before August has passed. This insect, 
which may be called the blight-beetle, from the injury it occa- 
sions, attacks also apple, apricot, and plum trees, though less 
frequently than pear-trees. In the latter part of May, 1843, a 
piece of the blighted limb of an apple-tree was sent to me for 
examination. It was twenty eight inches in length, and three 
quarters of an inch in diameter at the lower end. Its surface 
bore the marks of twenty buds, thirteen of which were perfo- 



80 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

rated by the insects; and, from the burrows within, I took 
twelve of the blight-beetles in a living and perfect condition; 
the thirteenth insect having previously been cut out. On the 
ninth of July, 1844, the Hon. M. P. Wilder sent to me a piece 
of a branch from a plum-tree, which contained, within the 
space of one foot, four nests or branching burrows, in each of 
which several insects in the grub and chrysalis state were 
found, and also one that had completed its transformations. 
Soon afterwards I caught one of the blight-beetles on a plum- 
tree, probably about to lay her eggs. In the following month 
of August, I received a blighted branch of an apricot-tree, one 
inch in diameter at the largest end, and containing, within the 
short distance of six inches, seven or eight perfect blight-beetles, 
each in a separate burrow, and vestiges of other burrows that 
had been destroyed in cutting the branch.* This little beetle, 
which is only one tenth of an inch in length, was named Sco- 
lytus Pyri, the pear-tree Scolytus, by Professor Peck. It is of 
a deep brown color, with the antennae and legs of the color of 
iron-rust. The thorax is short, very convex, rounded and rough 
before ; the wing-covers are minutely punctured in rows, and 
slope off very suddenly and obliquely behind; the shanks are 
widened and flattened towards the end, beset with a few little 
teeth externally, and end with a short hook; and the joints of 
the feet are slender and entire. This insect cannot be retained 
in the genus Scolytus^ as defined by modern naturalists, but is 
to be placed in the genus Tomicus. The minuteness of the 
insect, the difficulty attending the discovery of the precise seat 
of its operations before it has left the tree, and the small size 
of the aperture through which it makes its escape from the 
limb, are probably the reasons why it has eluded the researches 
of those persons who disbelieve in its existence as the cause 
of the blasting of the limbs of the pear-tree. It is to be sought 
for at or near the lowest part of the diseased limbs, and in the 
immediate vicinity of the buds situated about that part. The 



* See my communications on these insects in the Massachusetts Ploughman 
for June 17, 1S43. Also Downing's Horticulturist for Feb. 1848, Yol. II. p. 365; 



COLEOPTERA. 81 

remedy, suggested by Mr. Lowell and Professor Peck, to pre- 
vent other limbs and trees from being subsequently attacked 
in the same way, consists in cutting off the blasted limb below 
the seat of injury, and burning it before the perfect insect has 
made its escape. It will therefore be necessary, carefully to 
examine our pear-trees daily, during the month of June, and 
watch for the first indication of disease, or the remedy may be 
applied too late to prevent the dispersion of the insects among 
other trees. 

There are some other beetles, much like the preceding in 
form, whose grubs bore into the solid wood of trees. They 
were formerly included among the cylindrical bark-beetles, but 
have been separated from them recently, and now form the 
family Bostrichid.b, or Bostrichians. Some of these beetles 
are of large size, measuring more than an inch in length, and, 
in the tropical regions where they are found, must prove very 
injurious to the trees they inhabit. The body in these beetles 
is hard and cylindrical, and generally of a black color. The 
thorax is bulging before, and the head is sunk and almost 
concealed under the projecting fore part of it. The antennfe 
are of moderate length, and end with three large joints, which 
are saw-toothed internally. The larvae are mostly wood-eaters, 
and are whitish fleshy grubs, wrinkled on the back, furnished 
with six legs, and resemble in form the grubs of some of the 
small Scarabseians. The shagbark or walnut tree is sometimes 
infested by the grubs of the red-shovildered Apate, or Apate 
basillaris of Say, an insect of this family. The grubs bore 
diametrically through the trunks of the walnut to the very 
heart, and undergo their transformations in the bottom of their 
burrows. Several trees have fallen under my observation which 
have been entirely killed by these insects. The beetles are of 
a deep black color, and are punctured all over. The thorax is 
very convex and rough before ; the wing-covers are not exca- 
vated at the tip, but they slope downwards very suddenly 
behind, as if obliquely cut off, the outer edge of the cut portion 
is armed with three little teeth on each wing-cover, and on the 
base or shoulders there is a large red spot. This insect mea- 
sures one fifth of an inch or more in length. 
11 



82 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The most powerful and destructive of the wood-eating 
insects are the grubs of the long-horned or Capricorn-beetles 
(Cerambycid^), called borers by way of distinction. There 
are many kinds of borers which do not belong to this tribe. 
Some of them have already been described, and others will be 
mentioned under the orders to which they belong. Those now 
under consideration differ much from each other in their habits. 
Some live altogether in the trunks of trees, others in the limbs ; 
some devour the wood, others the pith; some are found only 
in shrubs, some in the stems of herbaceous plants, and others 
are confined to roots. Certain kinds are limited to plants of 
one species, others live indiscriminately upon several plants of 
one natural family ; but the same kind of borer is not known 
to inhabit plants differing essentially from each other in their 
natural characters. As might be expected from these circum- 
stances, the beetles produced from these borers are of many 
different kinds. Nearly one hundred species have been found 
in Massachusetts, and probably many more remain to be dis- 
covered. The Capricorn-beetles agree in the following respects. 
The antennae are long and tapering, and generally curved like 
the horns of a goat, which is the origin of the name above 
given to these beetles. The body is oblong, approaching to a 
cylindrical form, a little flattened above, and tapering some- 
what behind. The head is short, and armed with powerful 
jaws. The thorax is either square, barrel-shaped, or narrowed 
before ; and is not so wide behind as the wing-covers. The 
legs are long; the thighs thickened in the middle; the feet 
four-jointed, not formed for rapid motion, but for standing 
securely, being broad and cushioned beneath, with the third 
joint deeply notched. Most of these beetles remain upon trees 
and shrubs during the daytime, but fly abroad at night. Some 
of them, however, fly by day, and may be found on flowers, 
feeding on the pollen and the blossoms. When annoyed or 
taken into the hands, they make a squeaking sound by rubbing 
the joints of the thorax and abdomen together. The females 
are generally larger and more robust than the males, and have 
rather shorter antennae. Moreover they are provided with a 
jointed tube at .the end of the body, capable of being extended 



I 



COLEOPTERA. 83 

or drawn in like the joints of a telescope, by means of which 
they convey their eggs into the holes and chinks of the bark of 
plants. 

The larvae hatched from these eggs are long, whitish, fleshy 
grubs, with the transverse incisions of the body very deeply 
marked, so that the rings are very convex or hunched both 
above and below. The body tapers a little behind, and is 
blunt-pointed. The head is much smaller than the first ring, 
slightly bent downwards, of a horny consistence, and is pro- 
vided with short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof 
the insect can bore, as with a centi'e-bit, a cylindrical passage 
through the most solid wood. Some of these borers have six 
very small legs, namely, one pair vinder each of the first three 
rings ; but most of them want even these short and imperfect 
limbs, and move through their burrows by the alternate exten- 
sion and contraction of their bodies, on each or on most of the 
rings of which, both above and below, there is an oval space 
covered with little elevations, somewhat like the teeth of a fine 
rasp ; and these little oval rasps, which are designed to aid the 
grubs in their motions, fuUy make up to them the want of 
proper feet. Some of these borers always keep one end of 
their burrows open, out of which, from time to time, they cast 
their chips, resembling coarse sawdust; others, as fast as they 
proceed, fill up the passages behind them with their castings, 
well known here by the name of powder-post. These borers 
live from one year to three, or perhaps more years before they 
come to their growth. They undergo their transformations at 
the furthest extremity of their burrows, many of them pre- 
viously gnawing a passage through the wood to the inside of 
the bark, for their future escape. The pupa is at first soft and 
whitish, and it exhibits all the parts of the future beetle under 
a filmy veil which inwraps every limb. The wings and legs 
are folded upon the breast, the long antennae are turned back 
against the sides of the body, and then bent forwards between 
the legs. When the beetle has thrown off its pupa-skin, it 
gnaws away the thin coat of bark that covers the mouth of 
its burrow, and comes out of its dark and confined retreat, to 
breathe the fresh air, and to enjoy for the first time the pleasure 



84 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of sight, and the use of the legs and wings with which it is 
provided. 

The Capricorn-beetles have been divided into three families, 
corresponding with the genera Prionns, Ceramhyx, and Leptura 
of Linnaeus. Those belonging to the first family are generally 
of a brown color, have flattened and saw-toothed or beaded 
antennae of a moderate length, projecting jaws, and kidney- 
shaped eyes. Those in the second have eyes of the same 
shape, more slender or much longer antennae, and smaller 
jaws; and are often variegated in their colors. The beetles 
belonging to the third family are readily distinguished by their 
eyes, which are round and prominent. These three families 
are divided into many smaller groups and genera, the peculi- 
arities of which cannot be particularly pointed out in a work 
of this kind. 

The Prionians, or Prionid^e, derive their name from a Greek 
word signifying a saw, which has been applied to them either 
because the antennae, in most of these beetles, consists of flat- 
tened joints, projecting internally somewhat like the teeth of a 
saw, or on account of their upper jaws, which sometimes are 
very long and toothed within. It is said that some of the 
beetles thus armed can saw^ off" large limbs by seizing them 
between their jaws, and flying or whirling sidewise round the 
enclosed limb, till it is completely divided. The largest insects 
of the Capricorn tribe belong to this family, some of the tro- 
pical species measuring five or six inches in length, and one 
inch and a half or two inches in breadth. Their larvae are 
broader and more flattened than the grubs of the other Capri- 
corn-beetles, and are provided with six very short legs. When 
about to be transformed, they collect a quantity of their chips 
around them, and make therewith an oval pod or cocoon, to 
enclose themselves. 

Our largest species is the broad-necked Prionus, Prionus 
laticollis* of Drury, its first describer. It is of a long oval 
shape and of a pitchy black color. The jaws, though short, 
are very thick and strong; the antennae are stout and saw- 

• * Prionxis brevicornis of Eabricius. 



COLEOPTERA. 85 

toothed in the male, and more slender in the other sex ; the 
thorax is short and wide, and armed on the lateral edges with 
three teeth ; the wing-covers have three slightly elevated lines 
on each of them, and are rough with a multitude of large 
punctures, which run together uregularly. It measures from 
one inch and one eighth, to one inch and three quarters in 
length ; the females being always much larger than the males. 
The grubs of this beetle, when fully grown, are as thick as a 
man's thumb. They live in the trunks and roots of the balm 
of gilead, Lombardy poplar, and probably in those of other 
kinds of poplar also. The beetles may frequently be seen 
upon, or flying round the trunks of these trees in the month of 
July, even in the daytime, though the other kinds of Prionus 
generally fly only by night. 

The one-colored Prionus, Prionus unicolor* of Drury, inhabits 
pine-trees. Its body is long, narrow, and flattened, of a light 
bay-brown color, with the head and antennae darker. The 
thorax is very short, and armed on each side with three sharp 
teeth; the wing-covers are nearly of equal breadth throughout, 
and have three slightly elevated ribs on each of them. This 
beetle measures from one inch and one quarter, to one inch 
and a half in length, and about three or four tenths of an inch 
in breadth. It flies by night, and frequently enters houses in 
the evening, from the middle of July to September. 

The second family of the Capricorn-beetles may be allowed 
to retain the scientific name, Cerambycid^e, of the tribe to 
which it belongs. The Cerambycians have not the very promi- 
nent jaws of the Prionians; their eyes are always kidney- 
shaped or notched for the reception of the first joint of the 
antennae, which are not saw-toothed, but generally slender and 
tapering, sometimes of moderate length, sometimes excessively 
long, especially in the males; the thorax is longer and more 
convex than in the preceding family, not thin-edged, but often 
rounded at the sides. 

Some of these beetles, distinguished by their narrow wing- 
covers, which are notched or armed with two little thorns at 



* P. cylhidriciis of Fabricius. 



86 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the tip, and by the great length of their antennae, belong to 
the genus Stenocorus, a name signifying narrow or straitened. 
One of them, which is rare here, inhabits the hickory, in its 
larva state forming long galleries in the trunk of this tree in 
the direction of the fibres of the wood. This beetle is the 
Stenocorus ( CeraspJiorus) cinctus* or banded Stenocorus. It 
is of a hazel color, with a tint of gray, arising from the short 
hairs with which it is covered ; there is an oblique ochre-yellow 
band across each wing-cover; and a short spine or thorn on 
the middle of each side of the thorax. The antennae of the 
males are more than twice the length of the body, which 
measures from three quarters of an inch to one inch and one 
quarter in length. 

The ground beneath black and white oaks is often observed 
to be strewn with small branches, neatly severed from these 
trees as if cut off with a saw. Upon splitting open the cut 
end of a branch, in the autumn or winter after it has fallen, it 
will be found to be perforated to the extent of six or eight 
inches in the coiurse of the pith, and a slender grub, the author 
of the mischief, will be discovered therein. In the spring this 
grub is transformed to a pupa, and in June or July it is 
changed to a beetle, and comes out of the branch. The his- 
tory of this insect was first made public by Professor Peck,f 
who called it the oak-pruner, or Ste7iocorus [Elaphidion) putator. 
In its adult state it is a slender long-horned beetle, of a dull 
brown color, sprinkled with gray spots, composed of very short 
close hairs ; the antennae are longer than the body, in the 
males, and equal to it in length in the other sex, and the third 
and fourth joints are tipped with a small spine or thorn ; the 
thorax is barrel-shaped, and not spined at the sides ; and the 
scutel is yellowish white. It varies in length from four and a 
half to six tenths of an inch. It lays its eggs in July. Each 
egg is placed close to the axilla or joint of a leaf-stalk or of a 
small twig, near the extremity of a branch. The grub hatched 
from it penetrates at that spot to the pith, and then continues 

* Cerambyx cinctus, Drury ; Stenocorus garganicus, Fabricius. 

t Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal. Vol. V., -vvith a plate. 



COLEOPTERA. 87 

its course towards the body of the tree, devouring the pith, and 
thereby forming a cylindrical burrow, several inches in length, 
in the centre of the branch. Having reached its full size, 
which it does towards the end of the summer, it divides the 
branch at the lower end of its burrow, by gnawing away the 
wood transversely from within, leaving only the ring of bark 
untouched. It then retires backwards, stops up the end of its 
hole, near the transverse section, with fibres of the wood, and 
awaits the fall of the branch, which is usually broken off and 
precipitated to the ground by the autumnal winds. The leaves 
of the oak are rarely shed before the branch falls, and thus 
serve to break the shock. Branches of five or six feet in length 
and an inch in diameter are thus severed by these insects, a 
kind of pruning that must be injurious to the trees, and 
should be guarded against if possible. By collecting the 
fallen branches in the autumn, and burning them before the 
spring, we prevent the development of the beetles, while we 
derive some benefit from the branches as fuel. 

It is somewhat remarkable that, while the pine and fir tribes 
rarely suffer to any extent from the depredations of caterpillars 
and other leaf-eating insects, the resinous odor of these trees, 
offensive as it is to such insects, does not prevent many kinds 
of borers from burrowing into and destroying their trunks. 
Several of the Capricorn-beetles, while in the grub state, live 
only in pine and fir trees, or in timber of these kinds of wood. 
They belong chiefly to the genus CalHdimn, a name of un- 
known or obscure origin. Their antennae are of moderate 
length ; they have a somewhat flattened body ; the head nods 
forward, as in Stenocorus ; the thorax is broad, nearly circular, 
and somewhat flattened or indented above ; and the thighs are 
very slender next to the body, but remarkably thick beyond 
the middle. The larvae are of moderate length, more flattened 
than the grubs of the other Capricorn-beetles, have a very 
broad and horny head, small but powerful jaws, and are pro- 
vided with six extremely small legs. They undermine the 
bark, and perforate the wood in various directions, often doing 
immense injury to the trees, and to new buildings, in the lum- 
ber composing which they may happen to be concealed. Their 



88 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

burrows are wide and not cylindrical, are very winding, and 
are filled up with a kind of compact sawdust as fast as the 
insects advance. The larva state is said to continue two years, 
during which period the insects cast their skins several times. 
The sides of the body in the pupa are thin-edged, and finely 
notched, and the tail is forked. 

One of the most common kinds of CalUdium found here is 
a flatfish, rusty black beetle, with some downy whitish spots 
across the middle of the wing-covers ; the thorax is nearly cir- 
cular, is covered with fine whitish down, and has two elevated 
polished black points upon it ; and the wing covers are very 
coarsely punctured. It measures from four tenths to three 
quarters of an inch in length. This insect is the Callidimn 
hajulus ; the second name, meaning a porter, was given to it 
by Linnsus on account of the whitish patch which it bears on 
its back. It inhabits fir, spruce, and hemlock wood and lum- 
ber, and may often be seen on w^ooden buildings and fences in 
July and August. We are informed by Kirby and Spence 
that the grubs sometimes greatly injure the wood-work of 
houses in London, piercing the rafters of the roofs in every 
direction, and, when arrived at maturity, even penetrating 
through sheets of lead which covered the place of their exit. 
One piece of lead, only eight inches long and four broad, con- 
tained twelve oval holes made by these insects, and fragments 
of the lead were found in their stomachs. As this insect is 
now common in the maritime parts of the United States, it 
was probably first brought to this country by vessels from 
Europe. 

The violet Callidium, Callidium violaceum* is of a Prussian 
blue or violet color ; the thorax is transversely oval, and downy, 
and sometimes has a gi-eenish tinge ; and the wing-covers are 
rough with thick irregular punctures. Its length varies from 
four to sLx tenths of an inch. It may be found in great 
abundance on piles of pine wood, from the middle of May to 
the first of June ; and the larvae and pupae are often met with 
in splitting the wood. They live mostly just under the bark, 

* Cerambyx violaceus of LinnEEUS. 



COLEOPTERA. 89 

where their broad and winding tracks may be traced by the 
hardened sawdust with which they are crowded. Just before 
they are about to be transformed, they bore into the solid 
wood to the depth of several inches. They are said to be 
very injurious to the sapling pines in Maine. Professor Peck 
supposed this species of Callidium to have been introduced 
into Europe in timber exported from this country, as it is 
found in most parts of that continent that have been much 
connected with North America by navigation. Thus Europe 
and America seem to have interchanged the porter and violet 
Callidium, which, by means of shipping, have now become 
common to the two continents. 

From the regularity of its form, and the noble size it attains, 
the sugar maple is accounted one of the most beautiful of our 
forest-trees, and is esteemed as one of the most valuable, on 
account of its many useful properties. This fine tree suffers 
much from the attacks of borers, which in some cases produce 
its entire destruction. We are indebted to the Rev. L. W. 
Leonard, of Dublin, N. H., for the first account of the habits 
and transformations of these borers. In the summer of 1828, 
his attention was called to some young maples, in Keene, 
which were in a languishing condition. He discovered the 
insect in its beetle state under the loosened bark of one of the 
trees, and traced the recent track of the larva three inches into 
the solid wood. In the course of a few years, these trees, 
upon the cultivation of which much care had been bestowed, 
were nearly destroyed by the borers. The failure, from the 
same cause, of several other attempts to raise the sugar maple, 
has since come to my knowledge. The insects are changed 
to beetles, and come out of the trunks of the trees in July. In 
the vicinity of Boston, specimens have been repeatedly taken, 
which were undoubtedly brought here in maple logs from 
Maine. The beetle was first described in 1824, in the Appen- 
dix to Keating's " Narrative of Long's Expedition," by Mr. 
Say, who called it CJytus speciosus ; that is, the beautiful 
Clytus. It was afterwards inserted, and accurately repre- 
sented by the pencil of Lesueur, in Say's " American Entomo- 
logy," and, more recently, a description and figure of it has 
12 



90 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

appeared in Griffith's translation of Cuvier's " Animal King- 
dom," under the name of Chjtus Hayii. The beautiful Clytus, 
like the other beetles of the genus to which it belongs, is 
distinguished from a Callidium by its more convex form, its 
more nearly globular thorax, which is neither flattened nor 
indented, and by its more slender thighs. The head is yellow, 
with the antennae and the eyes reddish black ; the thorax is 
black, with two transverse yellow spots on each side ; the 
wing-covers, for about two thirds of their length, are black, 
the remaining third is yellow, and they are ornamented with 
bands and spots arranged in the following manner : a yellow 
spot on each shoulder, a broad yellow curved band or arch, of 
which the yellow scutel forms the key-stone, on the base of 
the wing-covers, behind this a zigzag yellow band forming the 
letter W, across the middle another yellow band arching back- 
wards, and on the yellow tip a curved band and a spot of a 
black color ; the legs are yellow ; and the under side of the 
body is reddish yellow, variegated with brown. It is the 
largest known species of Clytus, being from nine to eleven 
tenths of an inch in length, and three or four tenths in breadth. 
It lays its eggs on the trunk of. the maple in July and August. 
The grubs burrow into the bark as soon as they are hatched, 
and are thus protected during the winter. In the spring they 
penetrate deeper, and form, in the course of the summer, long 
and winding galleries in the wood, up and down the trunk. 
In order to check their devastations, they should be sought for 
in the spring, when they will readily be detected by the saw- 
dust that they cast out of their burrows ; and, by a judicious 
use of a knife and stiff wire, they may be cut out or destroyed 
before they have gone deeply into the wood. 

Many kinds of Clytus frequent flowers, for the sake of the 
pollen, which they devour. During the month of September, 
the painted Clytus, Clytus pictus* is often seen in abundance, 
feeding by day upon the blossoms of the golden-rod. If the 
trunks of our common locust-tree, Rohinia pseudacacia, are 
examined at this time, a still greater number of these beetles 

* Leptura picta, Drury ; Clytus flexuosus, Fabricius. 



COLEOPTERA. 91 

will be found upon them, and most often paired. The habits 
of this insect seem to have been known, as long ago as the 
year 1771, to Dr. John Reinhold Foster, who then described it 
under the name of Leptura Robinicp, the latter being derived 
from the tree which it inhabits. Drury, however, had pre- 
viously described and figured it, under the specific name here 
adopted, which, having the priority, in point of time, over all 
the others that have been subsequently imposed, must be 
retained. This Capricorn-beetle has the form of the beautiful 
maple Clytus. It is velvet-black, and ornamented with trans- 
verse yellow bands, of which there are three on the head, four 
on the thorax, and six on the wing-covers, the tips of which 
are also edged with yellow. The first and second bands on 
each wing-cover are nearly straight ; the third band forms a V, 
or, united with the opposite one, a W, as in the speciosiis; the 
fourth is also angled, and runs upwards on the inner margin of 
the wing-cover toM^ards the scutel; the fifth is broken or inter- 
rupted by a longitudinal elevated line ; and the sixth is arched, 
and consists of three little spots. The antennae are dark brown ; 
and the legs are rust-red. These insects vary from six tenths 
to three quarters of an inch in length. 

In the month of September these beetles gather on the 
locust-trees, where they may be seen glittering in the sunbeams 
with their gorgeous livery of black velvet and gold, coursing 
up and down the trunks in pursuit of their mates, or to drive 
away their rivals, and stopping every now and then to salute 
those they meet with a rapid bowing of the shoulders, accom- 
panied by a creaking sound, indicative of recognition or defi- 
ance. Having paired, the female, attended by her partner, 
creeps over the bark, searching the crevices with her antennae, 
and dropping therein her snow-white eggs, in clusters of seven 
or eight together, and at intervals of five or six minutes, till 
her whole stock is safely stored. The eggs are soon hatched, 
and the grubs immediately burrow into the bark, devouring 
the soft inner substance that suffices for their nourishment till 
the approach of winter, during which they remain at rest in a 
torpid state. In the spring they bore through the sap-wood, 
more or less deeply into the trunk, the general course of their 



92 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

winding and irregular passages being in an upward direction 
from the place of their entrance. For a time they cast their 
chips out of their holes as fast as they are made, but after a 
while the passage becomes clogged and the burrow more or 
less filled with the coarse and fibrous fragments of wood, to 
get rid of which the grubs are often obliged to open new holes 
through the bark. The seat of their operations is known by 
the oozing of the sap and the dropping of the sawdust from 
the holes. The bark around the part attacked begins to swell, 
and in a few years the, trunks and limbs will become disfigured 
and weakened by large porous tumors, caused by the efforts of 
the trees to repair the injuries they have suffered. According 
to the observations of General H. A. S. Dearborn, who has 
given an exceUent account* of this insect, the grubs attain 
their full size by the twentieth of July, soon become pupae, 
and are changed to beetles and leave the trees early in Sep- 
tember. Thus the existence of this species is limited to one 
year. 

Whitewashing, and covering the trunks of the trees with 
grafting composition, may prevent the female from depositing 
her eggs upon them ; but this practice cannot be carried to any 
great extent in plantations or large nurseries of the trees. Per- 
haps it will be useful to head down young trees to the ground, 
with the view of destroying the grubs contained in them, as 
well as to promote a more vigorous growth. Much evil might 
be prevented by employing children to collect the beetles while 
in the act of providing for the continuation of their kind. A 
common black bottle, containing a little water, would be a 
suitable vessel to receive the beetles as fast as they were gath- 
ered, and should be emptied into the fire in order to destroy 
the insects. The gathering should be begun as soon as the 
beetles first appear, and should be continued as long as any 
are found on the trees, and furthermore should be made a 
general business for several years in succession. I have no 
doubt, should this be done, that, by devoting one hour every 
day to this object, we may, in the course of a few years, rid 
ourselves of this destructive insect. 

* Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal, Vol. YI. p. 272. 



COLEOPTERA. 93 

The largest Capricorn-beetle, of the Cerambycian family, 
found in New England, is the Lamia [Monohammus) titillator 
of Fabriciiis, or the tickler, so named probably on account of 
the habit which it has, in common with most of the Capricorn- 
beetles, of gently touching now and then the surface on which 
it walks with the tips of its long antennae. Three or four of 
these beetles may sometimes be seen together in June and 
July, on logs or on the trunks of trees in the w^oods, the males 
paying their court to the females, or contending with their 
rivals, waving their antennae, and showing the eagerness of 
the contest or pursuit by their rapid creaking sounds. 

The head of the Lamias is vertical or perpendicular; the 
antennae of the males are much longer than the body, and 
taper to the end ; the thorax is cylindrical before and behind, 
and is armed on the middle of each side with a very large 
pointed wart or tubercle; the tips of the wing-covers are 
rounded; and the fore legs are longer than the rest, with 
broad hairy soles in the males. 

The titillator is of a brownish color, variegated or mottled 
with spots of gray, and the wing-covers, which are coarsely 
punctured, have also several small tufted black spots upon 
them ; the middle legs are armed with a small tooth on the 
upper edge ; the antennae of the male are twice as long as the 
body, and those of the other sex equal the body in length, 
which measures from one inch and one eighth to one inch 
and one quarter. What kind of tree the grub of this insect 
inhabits is unknown to me. 

Trees of the poplar tribe, both in Europe and America, are 
subject to the attacks of certain kinds of borers, differing 
essentially from all the foregoing when arrived at maturity. 
They belong to the genus Sajiej'da. In the beetle state the 
head is vertical, the antennae are about the length of the body 
in both sexes, the thorax is cylindrical, smooth, and unarmed 
at the sides, and the fore legs are shorter than the others. Our 
largest kind is the Saperda calcarata of Say, or the spmred 
Saperda, so named because the tips of the wing-covers end 
with a little sharp point or spur. It is covered all over with a 
short and close nap, which gives it a fine blue-gray color, it is 



94 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

finely punctured with brown, there are four ochre-yellow lines 
on the head, and three on the top of the thorax, the scutel is 
also ochre-yellow, and there are several irregular lines and spots 
of the same color on the wing-covers. It is from one inch to 
an inch and a quarter in length. This beetle closely resembles 
the European Saperda carcharias, which inhabits the poplar; 
and the grubs of our native species, with those of the broad- 
necked Prionus, have almost entirely destroyed the Lombardy 
poplar in this vicinity. They live also in the trunks of our 
American poplars. They are of a yellowish white color, ex- 
cept the upper part of the first segment, which is dark buff. 
"When fully grown they measure nearly two inches in length. 
The body is very thick, rather larger before than behind, and 
consists of twelve segments separated from each other by deep 
transverse furrows. The first segment is broad, and slopes 
obliquely downwards to the head; the second is very narrow; 
on the upper and under sides of each of the following segments, 
from the third to the tenth inclusive, there is a transverse oval 
space, rendered rough like a rasp by minute projections. These 
rasps serve instead of legs, which are entirely wanting. The 
beetles may be found on the trunks and branches of the vari- 
ous kinds of poplars, in August and September; they fly by 
night, and sometimes enter the open windows of houses in the 
evening. 

The borers of the apple-tree have become notorious, through- 
out the New England and Middle States, for their extensive 
ravages. They are the larvsB of a beetle called Saperda bivit- 
tata* by Mr. Say, the two-striped, or the brown and white 
striped Saperda; the upper side of its body being marked 
with two longitudinal white stripes between three of a light 
brown color, while the face, the antennae, the under side of the 
body, and the legs, are white. This beetle varies in length 
from a little more than one half to three quarters of an inch. 
It comes forth from the trunks of the trees, in its perfected 
state, early in June, making its escape in the night, during 
which time only it uses its ample wings in going from tree to 

* Saperda Candida ? Fabricius. 



COLEOPTERA. 95 

tree in search of companions and food. In the daytime it 
keeps at rest among the leaves of the plants which it devours. 
The trees and shrubs principally attacked by this borer, are 
the apple-tree, the quince, mountain ash, hawthorn and other 
thorn bushes, the June-berry or shad-bush, and other kinds of 
Amelanchier and Aronia. Our native thorns and Aronias are 
its natm*al food; for I have discovered the larvae in the stems 
of these shrubs, and have repeatedly found the beetles upon 
them, eating the leaves, in June and July. It is in these 
months that the eggs are deposited, being laid upon the bark 
near the root, during the night. The larvae hatched therefrom 
are fleshy whitish grubs, nearly cylindrical, and tapering a little 
from the first ring to the end of the body. The head is. small, 
horny, and brown ; the first ring is much larger than the others, 
the next two are very short, and, with the first, are covered 
with punctures and very minute hairs ; the following rings, to 
the tenth inclusive, are each furnished, on the upper and under 
side, with two fleshy warts situated close together, and desti- 
tute of the little rasp-like teeth, that are usually found on the 
grubs of the other Capricorn-beetles; the eleventh and twelfth 
rings are very short; no appearance of legs can be seen, even 
with a magnifying glass of high power. The grub, with its 
strong jaws, cuts a cylindrical passage through the bark, and 
pushes its castings backwards out of the hole from time to 
time, while it bores upwards into the wood. The larva state 
continues two or three years, during which the borer will be 
found to have penetrated eight or ten inches upwards in the 
trunk of the tree, its burrow at the end approaching to, and 
being covered only by, the bark. Here its transformation takes 
place. The pupa does not differ much from other pupae of 
beetles ; but it has a transverse row of minute prickles on each 
of the rings of the back, and several at the tip of the abdomen. 
These probably assist the insect in its movements, when casting 
off" its pupa-skin. The final change occurs about the first of 
June, soon after which, the beetle gnaws through the bark that 
covers the end of its burrow, and comes out of its place of 
confinement in the night. 



96 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Notwithstanding the pains that have been taken by some 
persons to destroy and exterminate these pernicious borers, 
they continue to reappear in our orchards and nurseries every 
season. The reasons of this are to be found in the habits of 
the insects, and in individual carelessness. Many orchards 
suffer deplorably from the want of proper attention ; the trees 
are permitted to remain, year after year, without any pains 
being taken to destroy the numerous and various insects that 
infest them; old orchards, especially, are neglected, and not 
only the rugged trunks of the trees, but even a forest of 
unpruncd suckers around them, are left to the undisturbed 
possession and perpetual inheritance of the Saperda. On the 
means that have been used to destroy this borer, a few remarks 
only need to be made ; for it is evident that they can be fully 
successful only when generally adopted. Killing it by a wire 
thrust into the holes it has made, is one of the oldest, safest, 
and most successful methods. Cutting out the grub, with a 
knife or gouge, is the most common practice; but it is feared 
that these tools have sometimes been used without sufficient 
caution. A third method, which has more than once been 
suggested, consists in plugging the holes with soft wood. If 
a little camphor be previously inserted, this practice promises 
to be more effectual; but experiments are wanting to confirm 
its expediency. 

The coated Saperda, or Saperda vestila, described by Mr. Say 
in the Appendix to Keating's Narrative of Major Long's Expe- 
dition, resembles the foregoing species in form. It measures 
from six to eight tenths of an inch in length; it is entirely 
covered with a close greenish yellow down or nap, and has two 
or three small black dots near the middle of each wing-cover. 
Mr. Say discovered it near the southern extremity of Lake 
Michigan, and states that it is also sometimes found in Penn- 
sylvania; but he does not appear to have known anything of 
its history. It is also found in Massachusetts, but has been 
rarely seen, until within a few years. One of my specimens 
was taken in Milton above twenty years ago, and several 
others were taken in Cambridge, during the summers of 1843 



COLEOPTERA. 97 

and 1844, upon the European lindens, from the trunks and 
branches of which they had just come forth. A knowledge of 
the habits x)f this insect might have led to its more frequent 
discovery. One of the lindens, above named, was a noble and 
venerable tree, with a trunk measuring eight feet and five 
inches in circumference, three feet from the ground. A strip 
of the bark, two feet wide at the bottom, and extending to the 
top of the trunk, had been destroyed, and the exposed surface 
of the wood was pierced and grooved with countless numbers 
of holes, wherein the borers had been bred, and whence swarms 
of the beetles must have issued in past times. Some of the 
large limbs and a portion of the top of the tree had fallen, 
apparently in consequence of the ravages of these insects ; and 
it is a matter of surprise that this fine linden should have with- 
stood and outlived the attacks of such a host of miners and 
sappers. 

The lindens of Philadelphia have suffered much more se- 
verely from these borers. Dr. Paul Swift, in a letter WTitten 
in May, 1844, gave to me the following interesting account of 
them. " The trees in Washington and Independence squares 
were first observed to have been attacked about seven years 
ago. Within two years, it has been found necessary to cut 
down forty-seven European lindens in the former square alone, 
where there now remain only a few American lindens, and 
these a good deal eaten." " Many of the beetles were found 
upon the small branches and leaves on the twenty-eighth day 
of May, and it is said that they come out as early as the first 
of the month, and continue to make their way through the 
bark of the trunk and large branches during the whole of the 
warm season. They immediately fly into the top of the tree, 
and there feed upon the epidermis of the tender twigs, and the 
petioles of the leaves, often wholly denuding the latter, and 
causing the leaves to fall. They deposit their eggs, two or 
three in a place, upon the trunk and brlnches, especially about 
the forks, making slight incisions or punctures, for their recep- 
tion, with their strong jaws. As many as ninety eggs have 
been taken from a single beetle. The grubs, hatched from 
these eggs, undermine the bark to the extent of six or eight 
13 



98 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

inches, in sinuous channels, or penetrate the solid wood an 
equal distance. It is supposed that three years are required 
to mature the insect. Various expedients have been tried to 
arrest their course, but without effect. A stream, thrown into 
the tops of the trees from the hydrant, is often used with good 
success to dislodge other insects ; but the borer-beetles, when 
thus disturbed, take wing and hover over the trees till all is 
quiet, and then alight and go to work again. The trunks and 
branches of some of the trees have been washed over with 
various preparations without benefit. Boring the trunk near the 
ground, and putting in sulphur and other drugs, and plugging, 
have been tried with as little effect." 

This beetle I have taken in Massachusetts only in June, 
mostly between the first and seventeenth, and none after the 
twentieth day of the month. The grub closely resembles that 
of the apple-tree borer. Figures of the insect, in all its stages, 
may be seen in the tenth volume of Hovey's Magazine, page 
330. 

There is another destructive Saperda, whose history remains 
to be written. It is the Saperda tridentata, so named by 
Olivier on account of the tridentate or three-toothed red bor- 
der of its wing-covers. This beetle is of a dark brown color, 
with a tint of gray, owing to a thin coating of very short down. 
It is ornamented with a curved line behind the eyes, two stripes 
on the thorax, and a three-toothed or three-branched stripe on 
the outer edge of each wing-cover, of a rusty red color. There 
are also six black dots on the thorax, two above, and two on 
the sides; and each of the angles between the branches and 
the lateral stripes of the wing-covers is marked with a blackish 
spot. The two hinder branches are oblique, and extend nearly 
or quite to the sutui*e ; the anterior branch is short and hooked. 
Its average length is about half an inch ; but it varies from 
four to six tenths of an inch. The males are smaller than the 
females, but have longer antennas. This pretty beetle has 
been long known to me, but its habits were not ascertained 
till the year 1847. On the nineteenth of June, in that year, 
Theophilus Parsons, Esq., sent to me some fragments of bark 
and insects which were taken by Mr. J. Richardson from the 



COLEOPTERA. 99 

decaying elms on Boston Common; and, among the insects, 
I recognized a pair of these beetles in a living state. My 
curiosity was immediately excited to learn something more 
concerning these beetles and their connection with the trees, 
but was not satisfied by a partial examination made in the 
course of the summer. It was not till the following winter, 
that an opportunity was afforded for a thorough search, with 
the permission of the Mayor, the Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jun,, 
and with the help of the Superintendent of the Common. 
The trees were found to have suffered terribly from the ravages 
of these insects. Several of them had already been cut down, 
as past recovery; others were in a dying state, and nearly all 
of them were more or less affected with disease or premature 
decay. Their bark was perforated, to the height of thirty feet 
from the ground, with numerous holes, through which insects 
had escaped; and large pieces had become so loose, by the 
undermining of the gi-ubs, as to yield to slight efforts, and 
come off in flakes. The inner bark was filled with the bur- 
rows of the grubs, gi*eat numbers of which, in various stages 
of growth, together with some in the pupa state, were found 
therein ; and even the surface of the wood, in many cases, was 
furrowed with their iiTegular tracks. Very rarely did they 
seem to have penetrated far into the wood itself; but their 
operations were mostly confined to the inner layers of the 
bark, which thereby became loosened from the wood beneath. 
The grubs rarely exceed three quarters of an inch in length. 
They have no feet, and they resemble the larvae of other spe- 
cies of Saperda^ except in being rather more flattened. They 
appear to complete their transformations in the third year of 
their existence. The beetles probably leave their holes in the 
bark during the month of June and in the beginning of July; 
for, in the course of thirty years, I have repeatedly taken them 
at various dates, from the fifth of June to the tenth of July. 
It is evident, from the nature and extent of their depredations, 
that these insects have alarmingly hastened the decay of the 
elm-trees on Boston Mall and Common, and that they now 
threaten their entire destruction. Other causes, however, have 
probably contributed to the same end. It will be remembered 



100 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

that these trees have greatly suffered, in past times, from the 
ravages of canker-worms. Moreover, the impenetrable state 
of the surface-soil, the exhausted condition of the subsoil, and 
the deprivation of ail benefit from the decomposition of accu- 
mulated leaves, which, in a state of nature, the trees wovild 
have enjoyed, but which a regard for neatness has industri- 
ously removed, have doubtless had no small influence in 
diminishing the vigor of the trees, and thus made them fall 
unresistingly a prey to insect devourers. The plan of this 
work precludes a more full consideration of these and other 
topics connected with the growth and decay of these trees; 
and I can only add that it may be prudent to cut down and 
burn all that are much infested by the borers. 

The tall blackberry, Ruhus villosus, is sometimes cultivated 
among us for the sake of its fruit, which richly repays the care 
thus bestowed upon it. It does not seem to be known that 
this plant and its near relation, the raspberry, suffer from borers 
that live in the pith of the stems. These borers differ some- 
what from the preceding, being cylindrical in the middle, and 
thickened a little at each end. The head is proportionally 
larger than in the other borers; the first three rings of the body 
are short, the second being the widest, and each of them is 
provided beneath with a pair of minute sharp-pointed warts or 
imperfect legs ; the remaining rings are smooth, and without 
tubercles or rasps ; the last three are rather thicker than those 
which immediately precede them, and the twelfth ring is very 
obtusely rounded at the end. The beetles from these borers 
are very slender, and of a cylindrical form, and their antennae 
are of moderate length and do not taper much towards the end. 
The species which attacks the blackberry appears to be the 
Saperda ( Oberea) tripunctata of Fabricius. It is of a deep 
black color, except the fore part of the breast and the top of 
the thorax, which are rusty yellow, and there are two black 
elevated dots on the middle of the thorax, and a third dot on 
the hinder edge close to the scutel ; the wing-covers are coarsely 
punctured, in rows on the top, and irregularly on the sides and 
tips, each of which is slightly notched and ends with two little 
points. The two black dots on the middle of the thorax are 



COLEOPTERA. 101 

sometimes wanting. This beetle varies from three tenths to 
half an inch in length. It finishes its transformations towards 
the end of July, and lays its eggs early in August, one by one, 
on the stems of the blackberry and raspberry, near a leaf or 
small twig. The grubs burrow directly into the pith, which 
they consume as they proceed, so that the stem, for the dis- 
tance of several inches, is completely deprived of its pith, and 
consequently withers and dies before the end of the summer. 
In Europe one of these slender Saperdas attacks the hazel- 
bush, and another the twigs of the pear-tree, in the same way. 

The Lepturians, or Lepturad^e, constitute the third family 
of the Capricorn-beetles. In most of them the body is nar- 
rowed behind, which is the origin of the name applied to 
them, signifying really narrow tail. They differ from the other 
Capricorn-beetles in the form of their eyes, which are not deeply 
notched, but are either oval or rounded and prominent, and the 
antennae are more distant from them, and are implanted near 
the middle of the forehead. Moreover the head is not deeply 
sunk in the fore part of the thorax, but is connected with it 
by a narrowed neck. The thorax varies somewhat in shape, 
but is generally narrowed before and widened behind. The 
Lepturians are often gayly colored, and fly about by day, visit- 
ing flowers for the sake of the pollen and tender leaves, which 
they eat. Their grubs live in the trunks and stumps of trees, 
are rather broad and somewhat flattened, and are mostly fur- 
nished with six extremely short legs. 

The largest and finest of these beetles in New England is 
the Desmocerus palliatus* which appears on the flowers and 
leaves of the common elder towards the end of June and until 
the middle of July. It is of a deep violet or Prussian blue 
color, sometimes glossed with green, and nearly one half of 
the fore part of the wing-covers is orange-yellow, suggesting 
the idea of a short cloak of this color thrown over the shoulders, 
which the name palliatus, that is cloaked, was designed to 
express. The head is narrow. The thorax has nearly the 
form of a cone cut off at the top, being narrow before and 

* Cerambyx palliatus of Forster ; Stenocorus cyaneus, Fabricius. 



102 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

wide behind; it is somewhat uneven, and has a little sharp 
projecting point on each side of the base. The antenna? have 
the third and the three following joints abruptly thickened at 
the extremity, giving them the knotty appearance indicated by 
the generical name Desmocerus, which signifies knotty horn. 
The larvBB live in the lower part of the stems of the elder, and 
devour the pith; they have hitherto escaped my researches, 
but I have found the beetles in the burrows made by them. 

The bark of the pitch-pine is often extensively loosened by 
the grubs of Lepturians at work beneath it, in consequence of 
which it falls ofl' in large flakes, and the tree perishes. These 
grubs live between the bark and the wood, often in great num- 
bers together, and, when they are about to become pupae, each 
one surrounds itself with an oval ring of woody fibres, within 
which it undergoes its transformations. The beetle is matured 
before winter, but does not leave the tree until spring. It is 
the ribbed Rhagium, or Rhagium Uneatum* so named because 
it has three elevated longitudinal lines or ribs on each wing- 
cover ; and it measures from four and a half to seven tenths of 
an inch in length. The head and thorax are gray, striped with 
black, and thickly punctured ; the antennae are about as long 
as the two forenamed parts of the body together; the thorax 
is narrow, cylindrical before and behind, and swelled out in 
the middle by a large pointed wart or tubercle on each side ; 
the wing-covers are wide at the shoulders, gradually taper 
behind, and are slightly convex above; they are coarsely punc- 
tured between the smooth elevated lines, and are variegated 
with reddish ash-color and black, the latter forming two irregu- 
lar transverse bands ; the under side of the body, and the legs, 
are variegated with dull red, gray, and black. The gray por- 
tions on this beetle are occasioned by very short hairs, forming 
a close kind of nap, which is easily rubbed off. 

The Buprestians and the Capricorn-beetles seem evidently 
allied in their habits, both being borers during the greater part 
of their lives, and living in the trunks and limbs of trees, to 
which they are more or less injurious in proportion to their 

* Ste?iocoriii lineatus of Olivier. 



COLEOPTERA. 103 

numbers. Some of the beetles in these two groups resemble 
each other closely in their forms and habits. The resemblance, 
between the slender cylindrical Saperdas and some of the 
cylindrical Buprestians belonging to the genus Agrilus, is 
indeed very remarkable, and cannot fail to strike a common 
observer. Their larvee also are not only very similar in their 
forms, but they have the same habits; living in the centre of 
stems, and devouring the pith. 

The insects, that have passed under consideration in the 
foregoing part of this treatise, spend by far the greater portion 
of their lives, namely, that wherein they are larvae only, in 
obscurity, buried in the ground, or concealed within the roots, 
the stems, or the seeds of plants, where they perform their 
appointed tasks unnoticed and unknown. Thus the work of 
destruction goes secretly and silently on, till it becomes mani- 
fest by its melancholy consequences; and too late we discover 
the hidden foes that have disappointed the hopes of the hus- 
bandman, and ruined those spontaneous productions of the 
soil that constitute so important a source of our comfort and 
pros})erity. 

There still remain several groups of beetles to be described, 
consisting almost entirely of insects that spend the whole, or 
the principal part, of their lives upon the leaves of plants, and 
which, as they derive their nourishment, both in the larva and 
adult states, from leaves alone, may be called leaf-beetles, or, 
as they have recently been named, phyllophagous, that is leaf- 
eating insects. When, as in certain seasons, they appear in 
considerable numbers, they do not a little injury to vegetation, 
and, being generally exposed to view on the leaves that they 
devour, they soon attract attention. But the power possessed 
by most plants of renewing their foliage, enables them soon to 
recover from the attacks of these devourers; and the injury 
sustained, unless often repeated, is rarely attended by the 
ruinous consequences that follow the hidden and unsuspected 
ravages of those insects that sap vegetation in its most vital 
parts. Moreover, the leaf-eaters are more within our reach, 
and it is not so difficult to destroy them, and protect plants 
from their depredations. The leaf-beetles are generally distin- 



104 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

guished by the want of a snout, by their short legs and broad 
cushioned feet, and their antennae of moderate length, often 
thickened a little towards the end, or not distinctly tapering. 
Some of them have an oblong body and a narrow or cylindrical 
thorax, and resemble very much some of the Lepturians, with 
which Linnaeus included them. Others, and indeed the greater 
number, have the body oval, broad, and often very convex. 

The oblong leaf-beetles, called Criocerians (Crioceridid.e), 
have some resemblance to the Capricorn-beetles. They are dis- 
tinguished by the following characters. The eyes are promi- 
nent and nearly round ; the antennae are of moderate length, 
composed of short, nearly cylindrical or beaded joints, and are 
implanted before the eyes ; the thorax is narrow and almost 
cylindrical or square ; the wing-covers, taken together, form an 
oblong square, rounded behind, and much wider than the tho- 
rax ; and the thighs of the hind legs are often thickened in the 
middle. 

The three-lined leaf-beetle, Crioceris trilineata of Olivier, 
will serve to exemplify the habits of the greater part of the 
insects of this family. This beetle is about one quarter of an 
inch long, of a rusty buff or nankin-yellow color, with two 
black dots on the thorax, and three black stripes on the back, 
namely, one on the outer side of each wing-cover, and one in 
the middle on the inner edges of the same ; the antennae 
(except the first joint), the outside of the shins, and the feet 
are dusky. The thorax is abruptly narrowed or pinched in on 
the middle of each side. When held between the fingers, 
these insects make a creaking sound like the Capricorn-beetles. 
They appear early in June on the leaves of the potato-vines, 
having at that time recently come out of the ground, where 
they pass the winter in the pupa state. Within a few years, 
these insects have excited some attention, on account of their 
prevalence in some parts of the country, and from a mistaken 
notion that they were the cause of the potato-rot. They eat 
the leaves of the potato, gnawing large and irregular holes 
through them ; and, in the course of a few days, begin to lay 
their oblong oval golden yellow eggs, which are glued to the 
leaves, in parcels of sLx or eight together. The grubs, which 



COLEOPTERA. 105 

are hatched in about a fortnight afterwards, are of a dirty- 
yellowish or ashen white color, with a darker colored head, 
and two dark spots on the top of the first ring. They are 
rather short, approaching to a cylindrical form, but thickest in 
the middle, and have six legs, arranged in pairs beneath the 
first three rings. After making a hearty meal upon the leaves 
of the potato, they cover themselves with their own filth. 
The vent is situated on the upper side of the last ring, so that 
their dung falls upon their backs, and, by motions of the body, 
is pushed forwards, as fast as it accumulates, towards the 
head, until the whole of the back is entirely coated with it. 
This covering shelters their soft and tender bodies from the 
heat of the sun, and probably serves to secure them from the 
attacks of their enemies. When it becomes too heavy or too 
dry, it is thrown off, but replaced again by a fresh coat in the 
course of a few hours. In eating, the grubs move backwards, 
never devouring the portion of the leaf immediately before 
the head, but that which lies under it. Their numbers are 
sometimes very great, and the leaves are then covered and 
nearly consumed by these filthy insects. When about fifteen 
days old they throw off" their loads, creep down the plant, and 
bury themselves in the ground. Here each one forms for itself 
a little cell of earth, cemented and varnished within by a 
gummy fluid discharged from its mouth, and when this is 
done, it changes to a pupa. In about a fortnight more the 
insect throws off its pupa skin, breaks open its earthen cell, 
and crawls out of the ground. The beetles come out towards 
the end of July or early in August, and lay their eggs for a 
second brood of grubs. The latter come to their growth and 
go into the ground in the autumn, and remain there in the 
pupa form during the winter. 

The only method that occurs to me, by means of which we 
may get rid of them, when they are so numerous as to be 
seriously injuriovis to plants, is to brush them from the leaves 
into shallow vessels containing a Little salt and water or 
vinegar. 

The habits of the Hispas, little leaf-beetles, forming the 
family Hispad^e, were first made known by me in the year 
14 



106 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

1835, in the " Boston Journal of Natural History," * where a 
detailed account of them, with descriptions of three native 
species, and figures of the larvae and pupae, may be found. 
The upper side of the beetles is generally rough, as the generi- 
cal name implies. The larvae buiTow under the skin of the 
leaves of plants, and eat the pulpy substance within, so that 
the skin, over and under the place of their operations, turns 
brown and dries, and has somewhat of a blistered appearance, 
and within these blistered spots the larvae or grubs, the pupae, 
or the beetles may often be found. The eggs of these insects 
are little rough blackish grains, and are glued to the surface of 
the leaves, sometimes singly, and sometimes in clusters of four 
or five together. The grubs of our common species are about 
one fifth of an inch in length, when fully grown. The body 
is oblong, flattened, rather broader before than behind, soft, 
and of a whitish color, except the head and the top of the first 
ring, which are brown, or blackish, and of a horny consistence. 
It has a pair of legs to each of the first three rings ; the other 
rings are provided with small fleshy warts at the sides, and 
transverse rows of little rasp-like })oints above and beneath. 
The pupa state lasts only about one week, soon after which 
the beetles come out of their burrows. 

The leaves of the apple-tree are inhabited by some of these 
little mining insects, which, in the beetle state, are probably 
the Hispa rosea^ of Weber, or the rosy Hispa. They are of a 
deep tawny or reddish yeUow color above, marked with little 
deep red lines and spots. The head is small; the antennae are 
short, thickened towards the end, and of a black color ; the 
thorax is narrow before and wide behind, rough above, striped 
with deep red on each side; the wing-covers taken together 
form an oblong square; there are three smooth longitudinal 
lines or ribs on each of them, spotted with blood red, and the 
spaces between these fines are deeply punctured in double 
rows; the under side of the body is black, and the legs are 
short and reddish. They measure about one fifth of an inch 



* Vol. I. page 141. 

t Hispa quadrata, Fabricius ; 7f. marginata, Say. 



COLEOPTERA. 107 

in length. These beetles may be found on the leaves of the 
apple-tree, and very abundantly on those of the shad-bush 
[Amelanchier ovalis), and choke-berry [Pyrus arbutifolia), dur- 
ing the latter part of May and the beginning of June. 

In the middle of June, another kind of Hispa may be found 
pairing and laying eggs on the leaves of the locust-tree. The 
grubs appear during the month of July, and are transformed 
to beetles in August. They measure nearly one quarter of an 
inch in length, are of a tawny yellow color, with a black longi- 
tudinal line on the middle of the back, partly on one and partly 
on the other wing-cover, the inner edges of which meet together 
and form what is called the suture; whence this species was 
named Hispa suturaUs by Fabricius; the head, antennae, body 
beneath, and legs are black; and the wing-covers are not so 
square behind as in the rosy Hispa. 

The tortoise-beetles, as they are familiarly called from their 
shape, are leaf-eating insects, belonging to the family Cassi- 
DAD^. This name, derived from a word signifying a helmet, 
is applied to them because the fore part of the semicircular 
thorax generally projects over the head like the front of a 
helmet. In these beetles the body is broad oval or rounded, 
flat beneath, and slightly convex above. The antenna? are 
short, slightly thickened at the end, and inserted close together 
on the crown of the head. The latter is small, and concealed 
under, or deeply sunk into, the thorax. The legs are very 
short, and hardly seen from above. These insects are often 
gayly colored or spotted, which increases their resemblance to 
a tortoise; they creep slowly, and fly by day. Their larvae 
and pupae resemble those of the following species in most 
respects. 

Cassida aurichalcea, so named by Fabricius on account of 
the brilliant brassy or golden lustre it assumes, is found during 
most of the summer months on the leaves of the bitter-sweet 
{Solarium dulcamara)^ and in great abundance on various kinds 
of Convolvulus, such as our large-flowered Convolvulus sepium, 
the morning glory, and the sweet potato-vine. The leaves of 
these plants are eaten both by the beetles and their young. 
The former begin to appear during the months of May and 



108 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

June, having probably survived the winter in some place of 
shelter and concealment, and their larvae in a week or two 
afterwards. The larva are broad oval, flattened, dark-colored 
grubs, with a kind of fringe, composed of stiff prickles, around 
the thin edges of the body, and a long forked tail. This fork 
serves to hold the excrement when voided ; and a mass of it 
half as large as the body of the insect is often thus accumu- 
lated. The tail, with the loaded fork, is turned over the back, 
and thus protects the insect from the sun, and probably also 
from its enemies. The first broods of larvse arrive at their 
growth and change to pupaj early in July, fixing themselves 
firmly by the hinder part of their bodies to the leaves, when 
this change is about to take place. The pupa remains fastened 
to the cast-skin of the larva. It is broad oval, fringed, at the 
sides, and around the fore part of the broad thorax, with large 
prickles. Soon afterwards the beetles come forth, and lay 
their eggs for a second brood of grubs, which, in turn, are 
changed to beetles in the course of the autumn. In June, 
1824, the late Mr. John Lowell sent me specimens of this little 
beetle, which he found to be injurious to the sweet potato-vine, 
by eating large holes through the leaves. This beetle is very 
broad oval in shape, and about one fifth of an inch in length. 
When living it has the power of changing its hues, at one 
time appearing only of a dull yellow color, and at other times 
shining with the splendor of polished brass or gold, tinged 
sometimes also with the variable tints of pearl. The body of 
the insect is blackish beneath, and the legs are dull yellow. 
It loses its brilliancy after death. The wing-covers, the parts 
which exhibit the change of color, are lined beneath with an 
orange-colored paint, which seems to be filled with little ves- 
sels; and these are probably the source of the changeable 
brilliancy of the insect. 

The Chrysomelians (Crysomelad^) compose an extensive 
tribe of leaf-eating beetles, formerly included in the old genus 
Chrysomela. The meaning of this word is golden beetle, and 
many of the insects, to which it was applied by Linnaeus, are 
of brilliant and metallic colors. They differ, however, so much 
in their essential characters, their forms, and their habits, that 



COLEOPTERA. 109 

they are now very properly distributed into four separate groups 
or families. The first of these, called GALERUCADiE, or Galeru- 
cians, consists mostly of dull-colored beetles ; having an oblong 
oval, slightly convex body; a short, and rather narrow, and 
uneven thorax; slender antenna, more than half the length of 
the body, and implanted close together on the forehead ; slender 
legs, which are nearly equal in size ; and claws spUt at the end. 
They fly mostly by day, and are, by nature, either very timid 
or very cunning, for, when we attempt to take hold of them, 
they draw up their legs, and fall to the ground. They some- 
times do great injury to plants, eating large holes in the leaves, 
or consuming entirely those that are young and tender. The 
larvae are rather short cylindrical grubs, generally of a blackish 
color, and are provided with six legs. They live and feed 
together in swarms, and sometimes appear in very great num- 
bers on the leaves of plants, committing ravages, at these 
times, as extensive as those of the most destructive caterpillars. 
This was the case in 1837 at Sevres, in France, and in 1838 
and 1839 in Baltimore and its vicinity, where the elm-trees 
were entirely stripped of their leaves during midsummer by 
swarms of the larvse of Galeruca Calmariensis ; and, in the 
latter place, after the trees had begun to revive, and were 
clothed with fresh leaves, they were again attacked by new 
broods of these noxious grubs. These insects, which were 
undoubtedly introduced into America with the European elm, 
are as yet unknown in the New England States. The eggs 
of the Galerucians are generally laid in little clusters or rows 
along the veins of the leaves, and those of the elm Galeruca 
are of a yellow color. The pupa state of some species occurs 
on the leaves, of others in the ground; and some of the larvae 
live also in the ground on the roots of plants. 

One of the most common kinds is the Galeruca vittata* or 
striped Galeruca, generally known here by the names of striped 
bug, and cucumber beetle. This destructive insect is of a light 
yellow color above, with a black head, and a broad black stripe 
on each wing-cover, the inner edge or suture of which is also 

* Crioceris vittata of Fabricius. 



110 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

black, forming a third narrower stripe down the middle of the 
back ; the abdomen, the greater part of the fore legs, and the 
knees and feet of the other legs, are black. It is rather less 
than one fifth of an inch long. Early in the spring it devours 
the tender leaves of various plants. I have found it often on 
those of our Aronias, Amelanchicr hotryapium and oralis, and 
Pi/rus arbiitifolia, towards the end of April. It makes its first 
appearance, on cucumber, squash, and melon vines, about the 
last of May and first of June, or as soon as the leaves begin 
to expand; and, as several broods are produced in the course 
of the summer, it may be found at various times on these 
plants, till the latter are destroyed by frost. Great numbers of 
these little beetles may be obtained in the autumn from the 
flowers of squash and pumpkin vines, the pollen and germs of 
which they are very fond of. They get into the blossoms as 
soon as the latter are opened, and are often caught there by 
the twisting and closing of the top of the flower; and, when 
they want to make their escape, they are obliged to gnaw a 
hole through the side of their temporary prison. The females 
lay their eggs in the ground, and the larvte probably feed on 
the roots of plants, but they have hitherto escaped my re- 
searches. 

Various means have been suggested and tried to prevent 
the ravages of these striped cucumber-beetles, which have 
become notorious throughout the country for their attacks 
upon the leaves of the cucumber and squash. Dr. B. S. 
Barton, of Philadelphia, recommended sprinkling the vines 
with a mixture of tobacco and red pepper, which he stated to 
be attended with great benefit. Watering the vines with a 
solution of one ounce of Glauber's salts in a quart of water, 
or with tobacco water, an infusion of elder, of walnut leaves, 
or of hops, has been highly recommended. Mr. Gourgas, of 
Weston, has found no application so useful as ground plaster 
of Paris ; and a writer in the " American Farmer " extols the 
use of charcoal dust. Deane recommended sifting powdered 
soot upon the plants when they are wet with the morning 
dew, and others have advised sulphur and Scotch snuff" to be 
applied in the same way. As these insects fly by night, as 



COLEOPTERA. Ill 

well as by day, and are attracted by lights, burning splinters of 
pine knots or of staves of tar-barrels, stuck into tlie ground 
during the night, around the plants, have been found useful in 
destroying these beetles. The most effectual preservative both 
against these insects and the equally destructive black flea- 
beetles which infest the vines in the spring, consists in covering 
the young vines with millinet stretched over small wooden 
frames. Mr. Levi Bartlett, of Warner, N. H., has described a 
method for making these frames expeditiously and economi- 
cally, and his directions may be found in the second volume 
of the " New England Farmer," * and in Fessenden's " New 
American Gardener," f under the article Cucumber. 

The cucumber flea-beetle above mentioned, a little, black, 
jumping insect, well known for the injury done by it, in the 
spring, to young cucumber plants, belongs to another family of 
the Chrysomelian tribe, called Halticad.e. The following are 
the chief peculiarities of the beetles of this family. The body 
is oval and very convex above; the thorax is short, nearly or 
quite as wide as the wing-covers behind, and narrowed before ; 
the head is pretty broad; the antennae are slender, about half 
the length of the body, and are implanted nearly on the middle 
of the forehead; the hindmost thighs are very thick, being 
formed for leaping; hence these insects have been called flea- 
beetles, and the scientific name Haltica, derived from a word 
signifying to leap, has been applied to them. The surface of 
the body is smooth, generally polished, and often prettily or 
brilliantly colored. The claws are very thick at one end, are 
deeply notched towards the other, and terminate with a long 
curved and sharp point, which enables the insect to lay hold 
firmly upon the leaves of the plants on which they live. These 
beetles eat the leaves of vegetables, preferring especially plants 
of the cabbage, turnip, mustard, cress, radish, and horse-radish 
kind, or those, which, in botanical language, are called cruci- 
ferous plants, to which they are often exceedingly injurious. 
The turnip-fly or more properly turnip flea-beetle is one of 
these Halticas, which lays waste the turnip fields in Europe, 

* Page 305. t Sixth edition, page 91. 



112 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO \^GETATION. 

devouring the seed-leaves of the plants as soon as they appear 
above the ground, and continuing their ravages upon new crops 
throughout the summer. Another small flea-beetle is often 
very injurious to the grape-vines in Europe, and a larger spe- 
cies attacks the same plant in this country. The flea-beetles 
conceal themselves during the winter, in dry places, under 
stones, in tufts of withered grass and moss, and in chinks of 
walls. They lay their eggs in the spring, upon the leaves of 
the plants upon which they feed. The larvas, or young, of the 
smaller kinds burrow into the leaves, and eat the soft pulpy 
substance under the skin, forming therein little winding pas- 
sages, in which they finally complete their transformations. 
Hence the plants sutler as much from the depredations of the 
larvae, as from those of the beetles, a fact that has too often 
been overlooked. The larvse of the larger kinds are said to 
live exposed upon the surface of the leaves which they devour, 
till they have come to their growth, and to go into the ground, 
where they are changed to pupee, and soon afterwards to beetles. 
The mining larvte, the only kinds which are known to me from 
personal examination, are little slender grubs, tapering towards 
each end, and provided with six legs. They arrive at maturity, 
turn to pupae, and then to beetles in a few weeks. Hence 
there is a constant succession of these insects, in their various 
states, throughout the summer. The history of the greater 
part of our Halticas or flea-beetles is still unknown; I shall, 
therefore, only add, to the foregoing general remarks, descrip- 
tions of two or three common species, and suggest such reme- 
dies as seem to be useful in protecting plants from their ravages. 
The most destructive species in this vicinity is that which 
attacks the cucumber plant as soon as the latter appears above 
the ground, eating the seed-leaves, and thereby destroying the 
plant immediately. Supposing this to be an undescribed in- 
sect, I formerly named it Haltica Cucnmeris, the cucumber 
flea-beetle; but IVIr. Say subsequently informed me that it was 
the pjibescens of lUiger, so named because it is very slightly 
pubescent or downy. Count Dejean, who gave to it the specific 
name of fuscula, considered it as distinct from the pubescens; 
and it differs from the descriptions of the latter in the color of 



COLEOPTERA. 113 

its thighs, and in never having the tips and shoulders of the 
wing-covers yellowish ; so that it may still bear the name given 
to it in my Catalogue. It is only one sixteenth of an inch 
long, of a black color, with clay-yellow antennte and legs, 
except the hindmost thighs, which are brown. The upper side 
of the body is covered with punctures, which are arranged in 
rows on the wing-cases ; and there is a deep transverse furrow 
across the hinder part of the thorax. During the summer, 
these pernicious flea-beetles may be found, not only on cucum- 
ber-vines, but on various other plants having fleshy and succu- 
lent leaves, such as beans, beets, the tomato, and the potato. 
They injure all these plants, more or less, according to their 
numbers, by nibbling little holes in the leaves with their teeth ; 
the functions of the leaves being thereby impaired in proportion 
to the extent of surface and amount of substance destroyed. 
The edges of the bitten parts become brown and dry by expo- 
sure to the air, and assume a rusty appearance. Since the 
prevalence of the disease, commonly called the potato-rot, 
attention has been particularly directed to various insects that 
live upon the potato plant; and, as these flea-beetles have been 
found upon it in great numbers, in some parts of the country, 
they have been charged with being the cause of the disease. 
The same charge has also been made against several other 
kinds of insects, some of which will be described in the course 
of this work. In my own opinion, the origin, extension, and 
continued reappearance of this wide-spread pestilence are not 
due to the depredations of insects of any kind. ]VIr. Phanuel 
Flanders, of Lowell, where the flea-beetles have appeared in 
unusual numbers, showed to me, in August, 1851, some potato- 
leaves that were completely riddled w4th holes by them, so that 
but little more than the ribs and veins remained untouched. 
He thinks that their ravages may be prevented by watering 
the leaves with a solution of lime, a remedy long ago employed 
in England, with signal benefit, in preserving the turnip crop 
from the attacks of the turnip flea-beetle. 

The wavy-striped flea-beetle, Haltica striolata* may be seen 

* Crioceris striolata, Fabricius. 

15 



114 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

in great abundance on the horse-radish, various kinds of 
cresses, and on the mustard, and turnip, early in May, and 
indeed at other times throughout the summer. It is very 
injurious to young plants, destroying their seed-leaves as soon 
as the latter expand. Should it multiply to any extent, it 
may, in time, become as great a pest as the European turnip 
flea-beetle, which it closely resembles in its appearance, and in 
all its habits. Though rather larger than the cucumber flea- 
beetle, and of a longer oval shape, it is considerably less than 
one tenth of an inch in length. It is of a polished black color, 
with a broad wavy bufl'-colored stripe on each wing-cover, and ! 
the knees and feet are reddish yellow. Specimens are some- 
times found having two buff"-yellow spots on each wing-cover 
instead of the wavy stripe. These were not known, by Fabri- 
cius, to be merely varieties of the striolata, and accordingly he ^' 
described them as distinct, under the name of bipustulata* the 
two-spotted. 

The steel-blue flea-beetle, Haltica chalybea of Illiger, or the 
grape-vine flea-beetle, as it might be called on account of its 
habits, is found in almost all parts of the United States, on 
wild and cultivated grape-vines, the buds and leaves of which 
it destroys. Though it has received the specific name of 
chalybea^ meaning steel-blue, it is exceedingly variable in its 
color, specimens being often seen on the same vine, of a dark 
purple, violet, Prussian blue, greenish blue, and deep green 
color. The most common tint of the upper side is a glossy, 
deep, greenish blue; the under side is dark green; and the 
antennae and feet are dull black. The body is oblong-oval, 
and the hinder part of the thorax is marked with a transverse 
furrow. It measures rather more than three twentieths of an 
inch in length. In this part of the country these beetles begin 
to come out of their winter quarters towards the end of April, 
and continue to appear till the latter part of May. Soon after 
their first appearance they pair, and probably lay their eggs on 
the leaves of the vine, and perhaps on other plants also. A 
second brood of the beetles is found on the grape-vines towards 

* Crioceris bipustulata, Fabricius. 



COLEOPTERA. 115 

the end of July. I have not had an opportunity to trace the 
history of these insects any further, and consequently their 
larvffi are unknown to me. INIr. David Thomas has given an 
interesting account of their habits and ravages in the twenty- 
sixth volume of Silliman's " American Journal of Science and 
Arts." These brilliant insects were observed by him, in the 
^ spring of 1831, in Cayuga County, N. Y., creeping on the 
vines, and destroying the buds, by eating out the central suc- 
culent parts. Some had burrowed even half their length into 
the buds. When disturbed, they jump rather than fly, and 
remain where they fall for a time without motion. During the 
same season these beetles appeared in unusually great numbers 
in New Haven, Conn., and its vicinity, and the injury done by 
I them was " wholly unexampled." " Some vines were entirely 
'• despoiled of their fruit buds, so as to be rendered, for that 
season, barren." IMr. Thomas found the vine-leaves were in- 
( fested, in the years 1830 and 1831, by "small chestnut-colored 
f smooth worms," and suspecting these to be the larvae of the 
beetle (which he called Chrysomela vitivora), he fed them in a 
tumbler, containing some moist earth, until they were fuUy 
grown, when they buried themselves in the earth. " After a 
fortnight or so," some of the beetles were found in the tumbler. 
Hence there is no doubt that the former were the larvte of the 
beetles, and that they undergo their transformations in the 
ground. A good description of the larvae, and a more full 
account of their habits, seasons, and changes, are still wanted. 
In England, where the ravages of the turnip flea-beetle have 
attracted great attention, and have caused many and various 
experiments to be tried with a view of checking them, it is 
thought that "the careful and systematic use of lime will 
obviate, in a great degree, the danger which has been experi- 
enced" from this insect. From this and other statements in 
favor of the use of lime, there is good reason to hope that it 
will effectually protect plants from the various kinds of flea- 
beetles, if dusted over them, when wet with dew, in proper 
season. Watering plants with alkaline solutions, it is said, 
will kill the insects without injuring the plants. The solution 
may be made by dissolving one pound of hard soap in twelve 



116 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

gallons of the soap-suds left after washing. This mixture 
should be applied twice a day with a water-pot. Kollar very 
highly recommends watering or wetting the leaves of plants 
with an infusion or tea of wormwood, which prevents the flea- 
beetles from touching them. Perhaps a decoction of walnut- 
leaves might be equally serviceable. Great numbers of the 
beetles may be caught by the skilful use of a deep bag-net of 
muslin, which should be swept over the plants infested by the 
beetles, after which the latter may be easily destroyed. This 
net cannot be used with safety to catch tlie insects on very 
young plants, on account of the risk of bruising or breaking 
their tender leaves. 

The Chrysomelians, Chrysomelad.e, properly so called, form 
the third family of the tribe to which I have given the same 
name, because these insects hold the chief place in it, in re- 
spect to size, beauty, variety, and numbers. These leaf-beetles 
are mostly broad oval, sometimes nearly hemispherical, in their 
form, or very convex above and flat beneath. The head is 
rather Avide, and not concealed under the thorax. The latter 
is short, and broad behind. The antennae are about half the 
length of the body, and slightly thickened towards the end, 
and arise from the sides of the head, between the eyes and the 
corners of the mouth; being much further apart than those of 
the Galerucians and flea-beetles. The legs are rather short, 
nearly equal in length, and the hindmost thighs are not thicker 
than the others, and are not fitted for leaping. The colors of 
these beetles are often rich and brilliant, among which blue 
and green, highly polished, and with a golden or metallic 
lustre, are the most common tints. The larvae are soft-bodied, 
short, thick, and slug-shaped grubs, with sLx legs before, and a 
prop-leg behind. They live exposed on the leaves of plants, 
which they eat, and to which most of them fasten themselves 
by the tail, when about to be transformed. Some, however, 
go into the ground when about to change to pupae. Many of 
these insects, both in the larva and beetle state, have been 
found to be very injurious to vegetation in other countries; 
but I am not aware that any of them have proved seriously 
injurious to cultivated or other valuable plants in this country. 



COLEOPTERA. IH 

There are some, it is true, which may hereafter increase so as 
to give us much trouble, unless effectual means are taken to 
protect and cherish their natural enemies, the birds. 

The largest species in New England inhabits the common 
milk -weed, or silk- weed (Asdepias Si/riaca), upon which it 
may be found, in some or all of its states, from the middle of 
June till September. Its head, thorax, body beneath, antennae, 
and legs are deep blue, and its wing-covers orange, with three 
large black spots upon them, namely, one on the shoulder, and 
another on the tip of each, and the thnd across the base of 
both wing-covers. Hence it was named Chrysomela trimacu- 
lata by Fabricius, or the three-spotted Chrysomela. It is nearly 
three eighths of an inch long, and almost hemispherical. Its 
larvae and pupae are orange-colored, spotted with black, and pass 
through their transformations on the leaves of the Asclepias. 

The most elegant of our Chrysomelians is the Chrysomela 
scalaris of Leconte, literally the ladder Chrysomela. It is 
about three tenths of an inch long, and of a narrower and 
more regularly oval shape than the preceding. The head, 
thorax, and under side of its body are dark green, the wing- 
covers silvery white, ornamented with small green spots on the 
sides, and a broad jagged stripe along the suture or inner 
edges ; the antenna? and legs are rust-red, and the wings are 
rose-colored. It is a most beautiful object when flying, with 
its silvery wing-covers, embossed with green, raised up, and its 
rose-red wings spread out beneath them. These beetles inhabit 
the lime or linden {TiUa Americana), and the elm, upon which 
they may be found in April, May, and June, and a second 
brood of them in September and October. They pass the 
winter in holes, and under leaves and moss. The trees on 
which they live are sometimes a good deal injured by them 
and by their larvae. The latter are hatched from eggs laid by 
the beetles on the leaves in the spring, and come to their 
growth towards the end of June. They are then about sLx 
tenths of an inch long, of a white color, with a black line 
along the top of the back, and a row of small square black 
spots on each side of the body; the head is horny and of an 
ochre-yeUow color. Like the grubs of the preceding species, 



118 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

these are short, and very thick, the back arching upwards very- 
much in the middle. I believe that they go into the ground 
to turn to pupBB. Should they become so numerous as seri- 
ously to injure the lime and elm trees, it may be found useful 
to throw decoctions of tobacco or of walnut leaves on the 
trees by means of a garden or fire engine, a method which 
has been employed with good effect for the destruction of the 
larvae of Galeruca Calmariensis. 

The most common leaf-beetle of the family under consid- 
eration is the blue-winged Chrysomela, or Chrysomela cccrulei' 
peiinis of Say, an insect hardly distinct from the European 
Chrysomela Poli/g'oni, and like the latter it lives in great num- 
bers on the common knot-grass [Polygonum aviculare), which 
it completely strips of its leaves two or three times in the 
course of the summer. This little beetle is about three twen- 
tieths of an inch long. Its head, wing-covers, and body 
beneath are dark blue ; its thorax and legs are dull orange-red ; 
the upper side of its abdomen is also orange-colored; and the 
antennae and feet are blackish. The females have a very odd 
appearance before they have laid their eggs, their abdomen 
being enormously swelled out like a large orange-colored ball, 
which makes it very difficult for them to move about. I have 
found these insects on the knot-grass in every month from 
April to September inclusive. The larvae eat the leaves of 
the same plant. 

Having described the largest, the most elegant, and the most 
common of our Chrysomelians, I must omit all the rest, except 
the most splendid, which was called Eumolpus auratus by Fa- 
bricius, that is, the gilded Eumolpus. It is of a brilliant golden 
green color above, and of a deep purplish gi'een below; the 
legs are also purple-green ; but the feet and the antennae are 
blackish. The thorax is narrower behind than the wing- 
covers, and the rest of the body is more oblong oval than in 
the foregoing Chrysomelians. It is about three eighths of an 
inch long. This splendid beetle may be found in considerable 
numbers on the leaves of the dog's-bane [Apocynum Androsce- 
mifolium), which it devours, during the months of July and 
August. The larvae are unknown to me. 



COLEOPTERA. 119 

The fourth family of the leaf-eating Chrysomelians consists 
of the Cryptocephalians (Cryptocbphalid.e), so named from 
the principal genus Cri/ptocephalus, a word signifying concealed 
head. These insects somewhat resemble the beetles of the 
preceding family; bvit they are of a more cylindrical form, and 
the head is bent down, and nearly concealed in the fore part of 
the thorax. Their larvEe are short, cylindrical, whitish grubs, 
which eat the leaves of plants. Each one makes for itself a 
little cylindrical or egg-shaped case, of a substance sometimes 
resembling clay, and sometimes like horn, with an opening at 
one end, within which the grub lives, putting out its head and 
fore legs when it wishes to eat or to move. When it is fully 
grown, it stops up the open end of its case, and changes to a 
pupa, and afterwards to a beetle within it, and then gnaws a 
hole through the case, in order to escape. As none of these 
insects have been observed to do much injury to plants in this 
country, I shall state nothing more respecting them, than that 
Clythra dominicana inhabits the sumach, C. qiaidriguttata oak- 
trees, Chlamys gibbosa low whortleberry bushes, Crytocephalus 
luridus the wild indigo-bush, and most of the other species 
may be found on different kinds of oaks. 



Although the blistering beetles, or Cantharides (Canthari- 
didje), have been enumerated among the insects directly bene- 
ficial to man, on account of the important use made of them 
in medical practice, yet it must be admitted that they are often 
very injurious to vegetation. The green Cantharides, or Spa- 
nish flies, as they are commonly called, are found in the South 
of Europe, and particularly in Spain and Italy, where they are 
collected in great quantities for exportation. Li these countries 
they sometimes appear in immense swarms, on the privet, lUac, 
and ash; so that the limbs of these plants bend under their 
weight, and are entirely stripped of their foliage by these leaf- 
eating beetles. In like manner our native Cantharides devour 
the leaves of plants, and sometimes prove very destructive to 
them. 



120 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The Cantharides are distinguished from all the preceding 
insects by their feet, the hindmost pair of which have only four 
joints, while the first and middle pairs are five-jointed. In this 
respect they agree with many other beetles, such as clocks or 
darkling beetles, meal-beetles, some of the mushroom-beetles, 
flat bark-beetles, and the like, with which they form a large 
and distinct section of Coleopterous insects. The following 
are the most striking peculiarities of the family to which the 
blistering beetles belong. The head is broad and nearly heart- 
shaped, and it is joined to the thorax by a narrow neck. The 
antenuEe are rather long and tapering, sometimes knotted in 
the middle, particularly in the males. The thorax varies in 
form, but is generally much narrower than the wing-covers. 
The latter are soft and flexible, more or less bent down at the 
sides of the body, usually long and narrow, sometimes short 
and overlapping on their inner edges. The legs are long and 
slender ; the soles of the feet are not broad, and are not cush- 
ioned beneath ; and the claws are split to the bottom, or double, 
so that there appear to be four claws to each foot. The body 
is quite soft, and when handled, a yellowish fluid, of a disa- 
greeable smell, comes out of the joints. These beetles are 
timid insects, and when alarmed they draw up their legs and 
feign themselves dead. Nearly all of them have the power of 
raising blisters when applied to the skin, and they retain it 
even when dead and perfectly dry. It is chiefly this property 
that renders them valuable to physicians. Four of our native 
Cantharides have been thus successfully employed, and are 
found to be as powerful in their effects as the imported species. 
For further particulars relative to their use, the reader is re- 
ferred to my account of them published in 1824, in the first 
volume of " The Boston Journal of Philosophy, and the Arts," 
and in the thirteenth volume of " The New England Medical 
and Surgical Journal." 

Occasionally potato-vines are very much infested by two 
or three kinds of Cantharides, swarms of which attack and 
destroy the leaves during midsummer. One of these kinds 
has thereby obtained the name of the potato-fly. It is the 



COLEOPTERA. 121 

CcMiharis viUcita* or striped Cantharis. It is of a dull tawny 
yellow or light yellowish red color above, with two black spots 
on the head, and two black stripes on the thorax and on each 
of the wing-covers. The under side of the body, the legs, and 
the antennffi are black, and covered with a grayish down. Its 
length is from five to six tenths of an inch. In this and the 
three following species the thorax is very much narrowed 
before, and the wing-covers are long and narrow, and cover 
the whole of the back. The striped Cantharis is comparatively 
rare in New England; but in the Middle and Western States 
it often appears in great numbers, and does much mischief in 
potato-fields and gardens, eating up not only the leaves of the 
potato, but those of many other vegetables. It is one of the 
insects to which the production of the potato-rot has been 
ascribed. The habits of this kind of Cantharis are similar to 
those of the following species. 

There is a large blistering beetle which is very common on 
the virgin's bower ( Clematis Virginiana), a trailing plant, which 
grows wild in the fields, and is often cultivated for covering 
arbors. I have sometimes seen this plant completely stripped 
of its leaves by these insects, during the month of August. 
They are very shy, and when disturbed fall immediately from 
the leaves, and attempt to conceal themselves among the 
grass. They most commonly resort to the low branches of 
the Clematis, or those that trail upon the ground, and more 
rarely attack the upper parts of the vine. They also eat the 
leaves of various kinds of Ranunculus or buttercups, and, in 
the Middle and Southern States, those of Clematis viorna and 
crispa. This beetle is the Cantharis marginata of Olivier, or 
margined Cantharis. It measures six or seven tenths of an 
inch in length. Its head and thorax are thickly covered with 
short gray down, and have a black spot on the upper side of 
each; the wing-covers are black, with a very narrow gray 
edging; and the under side of the body and the legs are also 
gray. 

The most destructive kind of Cantharis, found in Massa- 



* Lytta viiiaia, Fabricius. 

16 



122 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

chusetts, is of a more slender form than the preceding, and 
measures only from five and a half to six tenths of an inch in 
length. Its antennae and feet are black, and all the rest of its 
body is ashen gray, being thickly covered with a very short 
down of that color. Hence it is called Cantharis cinerea* or 
the ash-colored Cantharis. When the insect is rubbed, the 
ash-colored substance comes oflf, leaving the surface black. It 
begins to appear in gardens about the twentieth of June, and 
is very fond of the leaves of the English bean, which it some- 
times entirely destroys. It is also occasionally found in con- 
siderable numbers on potato-vines ; and in Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts, it has repeatedly appeared in great profusion upon 
hedges of the honey-locust, which have been entirely stripped 
of foliage by these voracious insects. They are also found on 
the wild indigo-weed. In the night, and in rainy weather, 
they descend from the plants, and burrow in the ground, or 
under leaves and tufts of grass. Thither also they retire for 
shelter during the heat of the day, being most actively engaged 
in eating in the morning and evening. About the first of 
August they go into the ground and lay their eggs, and these 
are hatched in the course of one month. The larvae are slen- 
der, somewhat flattened grubs, of a yellowish color, banded 
with black, with a small reddish head, and six legs. These 
grubs are very active in their motions, and appear to live upon 
fine roots in the ground; but I have not been able to keep 
them till they arrived at maturity, and therefore know nothing 
further of their history. 

About the middle of August, and during the rest of this 
and the following month, a jet-black Cantharis may be seen 
on potato- vines, and also on the blossoms and leaves of various 
kinds of golden-rod, particularly the tall golden-rod (Solidago 
altissima), which seems to be its favorite food. In some places 
it is as plentiful in potato-fields as the striped and the mar- 
gined Cantharis, and by its serious ravages has often excited 
attention. These three kinds, in fact, are often confounded 
under the common name of potato-flies ; and it is still more 

* Lytta cinerea, Fabricius. 



COLEOPTERA. 123 

remarkable, that they are collected for medical use, and are 
sold in our shops by the name of Cantharis vittata, without a 
suspicion of their being distinct from each other. The black 
Cantharis, or Cantharis atrata* is totally black, without bands 
or spots, and measures from four tenths to half of an inch in 
length. I have repeatedly taken these insects, in considerable 
quantities, by brushing or shaking them from the potato-vines 
into a broad tin pan, from which they were emptied into a 
covered pail containing a little water in it, which, by wetting 
their wings, prevented their flying out when the pail was un- 
covered. The same method may be employed for taking the 
other kinds of Cantharides, when they become troublesome 
and destructive from their numbers ; or they may be caught 
by gently sweeping the plants they frequent with a deep muslin 
bag-net. They should be killed by throwing them into scald- 
ing water, for one or two minutes, after which they may be 
spread out on sheets of paper to dry, and may be made profit- 
able by selling them to the apothecaries for medical use. 

There are some blistering beetles, belonging to another 
genus, which seem deserving of a passing notice, not on 
account of any great injury committed by them, but because 
they can be used in medicine like the foregoing, and are con- 
sidered by some naturalists as forming one of the links 
connecting the orders Coleoptera and Orthoptera together. 
These insects belong to the genus Mcloe, so named, it is sup- 
posed, because they are of a black, or deep blue-black color. 
They are called oil-beetles, in England, on account of the 
yellowish liquid which oozes from their joints in large drops 
when they are handled. Their head is large, heart-shaped, 
and bent down, as in the other blistering beetles. Their thorax 
is narrowed behind, and very small in proportion to the rest of 
the body. The latter is egg-shaped, pointed behind, and so 
enormously large, that it drags on the ground when the beetle 
attempts to walk. The wings are wanting, and of course these 
insects are unable to fly, although they have a pair of very 
short oval wing-covers, which overlap on their inner edges, 

* Lytia atrata, Fabricius. 



124 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

and do not cover more than one third of the abdomen. These 
beetles eat the leaves of various kinds of buttercups. 

Our common species is the Meloe angusticollis of Say, or 
narrow-necked oil-beetle. It is of a dark indigo-blue color; the 
thorax is very narrow, and the antennae of the male are curi- 
ously twisted and knotted in the middle. It measures from 
eight tenths of an inch to one inch in length. It is very com- 
mon on buttercups in the aiitumn, and I have also found it 
eating the leaves of potato-vines. 

The foregoing insects are but a small number of those, 
belonging to the order Coleoptera, which are injurious to 
vegetation. Those only have been selected that are the most 
remarkable for their ravages, or would best serve to illustrate 
the families and genera to which they belong. The orders 
Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Di- 
ptera, remain to be treated in the same way, in carrying out 
the plan upon which this treatise has been begun, and to which 
it is limited. 



ORTHOPTERA. 



125 



ORTHOPTERA. 

Earwigs. Cockroaches, — Mantes, or Soothsayers. — Walking Leaves. 
Walking Sticks, or Spectres. —Mole-Cricket. Field Crickets. Climb- 
ing Cricket. Wingless-Cricket. Grasshoppers. Katy-did. Locusts. 

The destructive insects popularly known in this country by 
the name of grasshoppers, but which, in our version of the 
Bible, and in other works in the English language, are called 
locusts, have, from a period of very high antiquity, attracted 
the attention of mankind by their extensive and lamentable 
ravages. It should here be remarked, that in America the 
name of locust is very improperly given to the Cicada of the 
ancients, or the harvest-fly of English wa-iters, some kinds of 
which will be the subject of future remark in this treatise. 
The name of locust will here be restricted to certain kinds 
of grasshoppers; while the popularly named locust, which, 
according to common belief, appears only once in seventeen 
years, must drop this name and take the more correct one of 
Cicada or harvest-fly. The very frequent misapplication of 
names, by persons unacquainted with natural history, is one 
of the greatest obstacles to the progress of science, and shows 
how necessary it is that things should be called by their right 
names, if the observations communicated respecting them are 
to be of any service. Every intelligent farmer is capable of 
becoming a good observer, and of making valuable discoveries 
in natural history ; but if he be ignorant of the proper names 
of the objects examined, or if he give to them names, which 
previously have been applied by other persons to entirely 
different objects, he will fail to make the result of his observa- 
tions intelligible and useful to the community. 

The insects which I here call locusts, together with other 
grasshoppers, earwigs, crickets, spectres or w^alking sticks, and 
walking leaves, soothsayers, cockroaches, &c., belong to an 
order called Orthoptera, literally straight wings; for their 



126 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

wings, when not in use, are folded lengthwise in narrow plaits 
like a fan, and are laid straight along the top or sides of the 
back. They are also covered by a pair of thicker wing-like 
members, which, in the locusts and grasshoppers, are long and 
narrow, and lie lengthwise on the sides of the body, sloping 
outwards on each side like the roof of a house ; in the cock- 
roaches, these upper wings or wing-covers are broader, almost 
oval, and lie horizontally on the top of the back, overlapping 
on their inner edges ; and in the crickets, the wing-covers, when 
closed, are placed like those of cockroaches, but have a narrow 
outer border, which is folded perpendicularly downwards so as 
to cover the sides of the body also. 

All the Orthopterous insects are provided with transversely 
movable jaws, more or less like those of beetles, but they do 
not undergo a complete transformation in coming to maturity. 
The young, in fact, often present a close resemblance to the 
adult insects in form, and differ from them chiefly in wanting 
wings. They move about and feed precisely like their parents, 
but change their skins repeatedly before they come to their full 
size. The second stage in the progress of the Orthopterous 
insects to maturity, is not, like that of beetles, a state of in- 
activity and rest, in which the insect loses the grub-like or 
larva form which it had when hatched from the egg, and be- 
comes a pupa or chrysalis, more nearly resembling the form of 
a beetle, but soft, whitish, and with its undeveloped wings and 
limbs incased in a thin transparent skin which impedes all 
motion. On the contrary, the Orthoptera, in the pupa state, 
do not differ from the young and from the old insects, except 
in having the rudiments of wings and wing-covers projecting, 
like little scales, from the back near the thorax. These pupae 
are active and voracious, and increase greatly in size, which is 
not the case with the insects that are subject to a complete 
transformation, for such never eat or grow in the pupa state. 
When fully grown, they cast off their skins for the sixth or 
last time, and then appear in the adult or perfect state, fully 
provided with all their members, with the exception of a few 
kinds which remain wingless throughout their whole lives. 
The shght changes to which the Orthoptera are subject, con- 



ORTHOPTERA. 127 

sist of nothing more than a successive series of moultings, 
during which their wings are gradually developed. These 
changes may receive the name of imperfect or incomplete 
transformation, in contradistinction to the far greater changes 
exhibited by those insects which pass through a complete 
transformation in their progress to maturity. 

Cockroaches are general feeders, and nothing comes amiss 
to them, whether of vegetable or animal nature ; the Mantes 
or soothsayers are predaceous and carnivorous, devouring 
weaker insects, and even those of their own kind occasionally ; 
but by far the greater part of the Orthopterous insects subsist 
on vegetable food, grass, flowers, fruits, the leaves, and even 
the bark of trees : whence it follows, in connexion with their 
considerable size, their great voracity, and the immense troops 
or swarms in which they too often appear, that they are 
capable of doing great injury to vegetation. 

The Orthoptera may be divided into four large groups : 

1. Runners [Orthoptera cursoria*), including earwigs and 
cockroaches, with all the legs fitted for rapid motion ; 

2. Graspers [Orthoptera raptoria), such as the Mantes, or 
soothsayers, with the shanks of the fore legs capable of being 
doubled upon the under side of the thigh, which, moreover, is 
armed with teeth, and thus forms an instrument for seizing 
and holding their prey ; 

3. Walkers ( Orthoptera ambulatoria), like the spectres or 
walking sticks, having weak and slender legs, which do not 
admit of rapid motion ; and 

4. Jumpers ( Orthoptera saltatoria), such as crickets, grass- 
hoppers, and locusts, in which the thighs of the hind legs are 
much larger than the others, and are filled and moved with 
powerful muscles, which enable these insects to leap with 
facility. 

I. RUNNERS. {Orthoptera Cursoria.) 

In English works on gardening, earwigs are reckoned among 
obnoxious insects, various remedies are suggested to banish 

* These are the four divisions proposed by Mr. "Westwood in his " Introduc- 
tion," who, however, applies to them their Latin names only. 



128 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

them from the garden, and even traps and other devices are 
described for capturing and destroying them. They have a 
rather long and somewhat flattened body, which is armed at 
the hinder end with a pair of slender sharp-pointed blades, 
opening and shutting horizontally like scissors, or like a pair 
of nippers, which suggested the name of Forficiila^ literally 
little nippers, applied to them by scientific writers. Although 
no well authenticated instances are on record of their entering 
the human ear, yet, during the daytime, they creep into all 
kinds of crevices for the sake of concealment, and come out 
to feed chiefly by night. It is common with English gardeners 
to hang up, among the flowers and fruit-trees subject to their 
attacks, pieces of hollow reeds, lobster claws, and the Hke, 
which offer enticing places of retreat for these insects on the 
approach of daylight, and by means thereof great numbers of 
them are obtained in the morning. The little creeping animal, 
with numerous legs, commonly but erroneously caUed earwig 
in America, is not an insect ; but of the true earwig we have 
several species, though they are by no means common, and 
certainly never appear in such numbers as to prove seriously 
injurious to vegetation. Nevertheless, it seemed well to give 
to this kind of insect a passing notice in its proper place 
among the Orthoptera, were it only for its notoriety in other 
countries. 

Of cockroaches {Blatta) we have also several kinds ; those 
which are indigenous I believe are found exclusively in woods, 
under stones and leaves, while the others, and particularly the 
Oriental cockroach {Blatta orientaUs), which is supposed to 
have originated in Asia, whence it has spread to Europe, and 
thence to America, and has multiplied and become established 
in most of our maritime commercial towns, are domestic spe- 
cies, and are found in houses, under kitchen hearths, about 
ovens, and in dark and warm closets, whence they issue at 
night, and prowl about in search of food. But, as these dis- 
gusting and ill-smelling insects confine themselves to our 
dwellings, and do not visit our gardens and fields, they will 
require no further remarks than the mention of a method 
which has sometimes been found useful in destroying them. 



ORTHOPTERA. 129 

Mix together a table-spoonful of red-lead and of Indian meal 
with molasses enough to make a thick batter, and place the 
mixture at night on a plate or piece of board in the closets or 
on the hearths frequented by the cocla-oaches. They will eat 
it and become poisoned thereby. The dose is to be repeated 
for several nights in succession. Dr. F. H. Horner* recom- 
mends the following preparation to destroy cockroaches. JVIix 
one teaspoonful of powdered arsenic with a table-spoonful of 
mashed potato, and crumble one third of it, every night, at 
bedtime, about the kitchen hearth, or where the insects will 
find and devour it. As both of these preparations are very 
poisonous, great care should be taken in the use of them, and 
of any portions that may be left by the insects. 



II. GRASPERS. {Orthoptera ra2)toria.) 

These, which consist of the Mantes, called praying mantes 
and soothsayers, from their singular attitudes and motions, and 
camel-crickets, from the great length of the neck, are chiefly 
tropical insects, though some of them are occasionally found 
in this country. Moreover, they are exclusively predaceous 
insects, seizing, with their singular fore legs, caterpillars, and 
other weaker insects which they devour. They are, therefore, 
to be enumerated among the insects that are beneficial to man- 
kind, by keeping in check those that subsist on vegetable food. 



III. WALKERS. {Orthoptera ambulatoria.) 

To this division belong various insects, mostly found in 
warm climates, and displaying the most extraordinary forms. 
Some of them are furnished with wings, which, by their shape, 
and the branching veins with which they are covered, exactly 
represent leaves, either green, or dry and withered; such are 
the walking leaves, as they are called {Phi/Ilium pulchrifolium, 
siccifolium, &c.). Others are wingless, of a long and cylindrical 
shape, resembling a stick with the bark on it, while the slender 

* Downing's Horticulturist. Vol. 11. p. 343 (Jan. 1848). 

17 



130 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

legs, standing out on each side, give to these insects almost 
precisely the appearance of a little branching twig, whence is 
derived the name of walking sticks, generally applied to them. 
The South American Bacteria arumatia, rubispinosa, and phyl- 
lina, and two species of Diapheromera? described and figured 
in Say's "American Entomology," under the names of Spectrum 
femoratum and bivittatum, are of the latter description. These 
insects are very sluggish and inactive, are found among trees 
and bushes, on which they often remain motionless for a long 
time, or walk slowly over the leaves and young shoots, which 
are their appropriate food. The American species are not so 
numerous, and have not proved so injm-ious as particularly to 
attract attention. 



rV. JUMPERS. {Orthoptera sanatoria.) 

These are by far the most abundant and prolific, and the 
most destructive of the Orthopterous insects. They were all 
included by Linnasus in his great genus Gryllus, in separate 
divisions, however, three of which correspond to the families 
Aclietada;* Grylliadce^] and LocustiadcB^X in my " Catalogue of 
the Insects of Massachusetts," and may retain the synonymous 
English names of Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Locusts. These 
three families may thus be distinguished from each other. 

1. Crickets (Achetad^); with the wing-covers horizontal, 
and furnished with a narrow, deflexed outer border; antennae 
long and tapering; feet three-jointed (except fficanthus, which 
has four joints to the hind feet); two tapering, downy bristles 
at the end of the body, between which, in most of the females, 
there is a long spear-pointed piercer. 

2. Grasshoppers (Gryllid^); with the wing-covers sloping 
downwards at the sides of the body, or roofed, and not bor- 
dered; antennsB long and tapering; feet with four joints; end 
of the body, in the females, with a projecting sword or sabre- 
shaped piercer. 

3. Locusts (LocusTAD^); with the wing-covers roofed, and 

* Gryllus Acheta, Linnaeus, f Gryllus Tettigonia., L. % Gryllus Locicsta, L. 



ORTHOPTERA. 131 

not bordered ; antennae rather short, and in general not tapering ' 
at the end; feet with only three joints; female without a pro- 
jecting piercer. 

1. Crickets. {Achetadce.) 

There may sometimes be seen in moist and soft ground, 
particularly around ponds, little ridges or hills of loose fresh 
earth, smaller than those which are formed by moles. They 
cover little burrows, that usually terminate beneath a stone or 
clod of turf. These burrows are made and inhabited by mole- 
crickets, which are among the most extraordinary of the cricket 
kind. The common mole-cricket of this country is, when fully 
grown, about one inch and a quarter in length, of a light bay 
or fawn color, and covered with a very short and velvet-like 
down. The wing-covers are not half the length of the abdo- 
men, and the wings are also short, their tips, when folded, 
extending only about one eighth of an inch beyond the wing- 
covers. The fore legs are admirably adapted for digging, 
being very short, broad, and strong ; and the shanks, which 
are excessively broad, flat, and three-sided, have the lower side 
divided by deep notches into four finger-like projections, that 
give to this part very much the appearance and the power of 
the hand of a mole. From this similarity in structure, and 
from its burrowing habits, this insect receives its scientific 
name of Gryllotaljia, derived from Grijllus, the ancient name 
of the cricket, and Talpa, a mole; and our common species 
has the additional name of hrevipennis* or short-winged, to 
distinguish it from the European species, which has much 
longer wings. Mole-crickets avoid the light of day, and are 
active chiefly during the night. They live on the tender roots 
of plants, and in Europe, where they infest moist gardens and 
meadows, they often do great injm-y by burrowing under the 
turf, and cutting off" the roots of the grass, and by undermining 
and destroying, in this way, sometimes whole beds of cabbages, 
beans, and flowers. In the West Indies, extensive ravages 

* Serville. " Orthopteres," p. 308. 



132 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

have been committed in the plantations of the sugar-cane, by 
another species, Gryllotalpa didactyla, which has only two 
finger-like projections on the shin. The mole-cricket of Europe 
lays from two to three hundred eggs, and the young do not 
come to maturity till the third year ; circumstances both con- 
tributing greatly to increase the ravages of these insects. It 
is observed, that, in proportion as cultivation is extended, de- 
structive insects multiply, and their depredations become more 
serious. We may, therefore, in process of time, find mole- 
crickets in this country quite as much a pest as they are in 
Europe, although their depredations have hitherto been limited 
to so small an extent as not to have attracted much notice. 
Should it hereafter become necessary to employ means for 
checking them, poisoning might be tried, such as placing, in 
the vicinity of their burrows, grated carrots or potatoes mixed 
with arsenic. It is well known that swine will eat almost all 
kinds of insects, and that they are very sagacious in rooting 
them out of the ground. They might, therefore, be employed 
with advantage to destroy these and other noxious insects, if 
other means should fail. 

We have no house-crickets in America; our species inhabit 
gardens and fields, and enter our houses only by accident. 
Crickets are, in great measure, nocturnal and solitary insects, 
concealing themselves by day, and coming from their retreats 
to seek their food and their mates by night. There are some 
species, however, which differ greatly from the others in their 
social habits. These are not unfrequently seen during the 
daytime in great numbers in paths, and by the road side ; but 
the other kinds rarely expose themselves to the light of day, 
and their music is heard only at night. With crickets, as with 
grasshoppers, locusts, and harvest-flies, the males only are 
musical ; for the females are not provided with the instruments 
from which the sounds emitted by these different insects are 
produced. In the male cricket these make a part of the wing- 
covers, the horizontal and overlapping portion of which, near 
the thorax, is convex, and marked with large, strong, and 
irregularly curved veins. When the cricket shrills (we cannot 
say sings, for he has no vocal organs), he raises the wing-covers 



ORTHOPTERA. 133 

a little, and shuffles them together lengthwise, so that the pro- 
jecting veins of one are made to grate against those of the 
other. The English name cricket, and the French cri-cri, are 
evidently derived from the creaking sounds of these insects. 
Mr. "White, of Selborne, says that " the shrilling of the field- 
cricket, though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights 
some hearers, filling their minds with a train of summer ideas 
of everything that is rural, verdurous, and joyous" ; sentiments 
in which few persons, if any, in America will participate ; for 
with us the creaking of crickets does not begin till summer is 
gone, and the continued and monotonous sounds, which they 
keep up during the whole night, so long as autumn lasts, are 
both wearisome and sad. Where crickets abound, they do 
great injury to vegetation, eating the most tender parts of 
plants, and even devouring roots and fruits, whenever they 
can get them. Melons, squashes, and even potatoes are often 
eaten by them, and the quantity of grass that they destroy 
must be great, from the immense numbers of these insects 
which are sometimes seen in our meadows and fields. They 
may be poisoned in the same way as mole-crickets. Crickets 
are not entirely confined to a vegetable diet; they devoiu* other 
insects whenever they can meet with and can overpower them. 
They deposit then' eggs, which are numerous, in the ground, 
making holes for their reception, with their long, spear-pointed 
piercers. The eggs are laid in the autumn, and do not appear 
to be hatched till the ensuing summer. The old insects, for 
the most part, die on the approach of cold weather ; but a few 
survive the winter, by sheltering themselves under stones, or in 
holes secure from the access of water. 

The scientific name of the genus that includes the cricket 
is Acheta, and our common species is the Acheta abbreviata, 
so named from the shortness of its wings, which do not extend 
beyond the wing-covers. It is about three quarters of an inch 
in length, of a black color, with a brownish tinge at the base 
of the wing-covers, and a pale line on each side above the 
deflexed border. The pale line is most distinct in the female, 
and is oftentimes entirely wanting in the male. 



134 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

We have another species with very short or abortive wings ; 
it is entirely of a black color, and measures six tenths of an 
inch in length from the head to the end of the body. It may 
be called Acheta nigra, the black cricket. 

A third species, differing from these two in being entirely 
destitute of wings, and in having the wing-covers proportion- 
ally much shorter, and the last joint of the feelers [palpi) 
almost twice the length of the preceding joint, is furthermore 
distinguished from them by its greatly inferior size, and its 
different coloring. It measures from three to above four tenths 
of an inch in length, and varies in color from dusky brown to 
rusty black, the wing-covers and hindmost thighs being always 
somewhat lighter. In the brownish colored varieties three lon- 
gitudinal black lines are distinctly visible on the top of the 
head, and a black line on each side of the thorax, which is 
continued along the sides of the wing-covers to their tips. 
This black line on the wing-covers is never wanting, even 
in the darkest varieties. The hindmost thighs have, on the 
outside, three rows of short oblique black lines, presenting 
somewhat of a twilled appearance. This is one of the social 
species, which, associated together in great swarms, and feeding 
in common, frequent our meadows and road sides, and, so far 
from avoiding the light of day, seem to be quite as fond of it 
as others are of darkness. It may be called Acheta vittata* 
the striped cricket. 

These kinds of crickets live upon the ground, and among 
the grass and low herbage ; but there is another kind which 
inhabits the stems and branches of shrubs and trees, concealing 
itself during the daytime among the leaves, or in the flowers 
of these plants. Some Isabella grape-vines, which were trained 
against one side of my house, were much resorted to by these 
delicate and noisy little crickets. The males begin to be heard 
about the middle of August, and do not leave us until after 
the middle of September. Their shrilling is excessively loud, 
and is produced, like that of other crickets, by the rubbing of 

* It belongs to M, Serville's new genus Nemobius, 



ORTHOPTERA. 135 

one wing-cover against the other; but they generally raise 
their wing-covers much higher than other crickets do while 
they are playing. These wing-covers, in the males, are also 
very large, and as long as the wings; they are exceedingly 
thin, and perfectly transparent, and have the horizontal portion 
divided into four unequal parts by three oblique raised lines, 
two of which are parallel and form an angle with the anterior 
line. The antennae and legs are both very long and slender, 
the hinder thighs being much smaller in proportion than those 
of other crickets, and the hindmost feet have four instead of 
three joints. The two bristle-formed appendages at the end 
of the body are as long as the piercer, and the latter is only 
about half the length of the body, while, in the ground-crickets, 
the piercer is usually as long as the body or longer. These 
insects have, therefore, been separated from the other crickets 
under the generical name of (Ecanthus, a word which means 
inhabiting flowers. They may be called climbing crickets, 
from their habit of mounting upon plants and dwelling among 
the leaves and flowers. According to M. Salvi* the female 
makes several perforations in the tender stems of plants, and 
in each perforation thrusts two eggs quite to the pith. The 
eggs are hatched about midsummer, and the young immedi- 
ately issue from their nests and conceal themselves among the 
thickest foliage of the plant. When arrived at maturity the 
males begin their nocturnal serenade at the approach of twilight, 
and continue it, with little or no intermission till the dawn of 
day. Should one of these little musicians get admission to the 
chamber, his incessant and loud shrilling will effectually banish 
sleep. Of three species which inhabit the United States, one 
only is found in Massachusetts. It is the (Ecanthus nivens, or 
white climbing cricket. The male is ivory-white, with the upper 
side of the first joint of the antenns, and the head between 
the eyes, of an ochre-yellow color ; there is a minute black dot 
on the under sides of the first and second joints of the antennae ; 
and, in some individuals, the extremities of the feet, and the 
under sides of the hindmost thighs, are ochre-yellow. The 

* Memorie intorno le Locuste grillajole. 8vo. Yerona : 1750. 



136 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

body is about half an inch long, exclusive of the wing-covers. 
The female is usually rather longer, but the wing-covers are 
much narrower than those of the male, and there is a great 
diversity of coloring in this sex; the body being sometimes 
almost white, or pale greenish yellow, or dusky, and blackish 
beneath. There are three dusky stripes on the head and tho- 
rax, and the legs, antennae, and piercer are more or less dusky 
or blackish. The wing-covers and wings are yellowish white, 
sometimes with a tinge of green, and the wings are rather 
longer than the covers. Some of these insects have been sent 
to me by a gentleman who found them piercing and laying 
eggs in the branches of a peach-tree. Another correspondent, 
who is interested in the tobacco culture in Connecticut, in- 
formed me that they injured the plant by eating holes in the 
leaves. 



2. Grasshoppers. {Gryllidw.) 

Grasshoppers, properly so called, as before stated, are those 
jumping orthopterous insects which have four joints to all their 
feet, long bristle-formed antennae, and in which the females are 
provided with a piercer, flattened at the sides, and somewhat 
resembling a sword or cimeter in shape. The wing-covers 
slope downwards at the sides of the body, and overlap only a 
little on the top of the back near the thorax. This overlapping 
portion, which forms a long triangle, is traversed, in the males, 
by strong projecting veins, between which, in many of them, 
are membranous spaces as transparent as glass. The sounds 
emitted by the males, and varying according to the species, are 
produced by the friction of these overlapping portions together. 

In Massachusetts there is one kind of grasshopper, which 
forms a remarkable exception to the other native insects of 
this family ; and, as it does not seem to have been named or 
described by any author, although by no means an uncommon 
insect, it may receive a passing notice here. It is found only 
under stones and rubbish in woods, has a short thick body, 
and remarkably stout hind thighs, like a cricket, but is entirely 
destitute of wing-covers and wings, even when arrived at ma- 



OETHOPTERA. 137 

turity. It belongs to M. Serville's genus Phalang-opsis, and I 
propose to call it Phalangopsis macvlata* the spotted wingless 
cricket. Its body is of a pale yellowish brown color, darker 
on the back, which is covered with little light colored spots, 
and the outside of the hindmost thighs is marked with numer- 
ous short oblique lines, disposed in parallel rows, like those on 
the thighs of Acheta vittata. It varies in length from one half 
to more than three quarters of an inch, exclusive of the piercer 
and legs. The body is smooth and shining, and the back is 
arched. 

Most grasshoppers are of a green color, and are furnished 
with wings and wing-covers, the latter frequently resembling 
the leaves of trees and shrubs, upon which, indeed, many of 
these insects pass the greater part of their lives. Their leaf- 
like form and green color evidently seem to have been designed 
for their better concealment. They are nocturnal insects, or at 
i least more active by night than by day. When taken between 
the fingers, they emit from their mouths a considerable quan- 
tity of dark-colored fluid, as do also the locusts or diurnal 
grasshoppers. They devour the leaves of plants, and lead a 
solitary life, or at least do not associate and migrate from 
place to place in great swarms, like some of the crickets and 
the locusts. There is a remarkable difference in their habits, 
which does not appear to have been described hitherto. Some 
of these grasshoppers live upon grass and other herbaceous or 
low plants in fields and meadows. The piercer of the females 
is often straight, or only slightly curved. They commit their 
eggs to the earth, thrusting them into holes made therein with 
the piercer. They lay a large number of eggs at a time, and 
cover them with a kind of varnish, which, when dry, forms a 
thin film that completely encloses them. These eggs are 
elongated, and nearly of an elipsoidal form. Other green 
Grylli live upon trees and shrubs. Their wing-covers and 
wings are broader, and their piercer is shorter and often more 
curved than in the foregoing kinds. They do not lay their 
eggs in the ground, but deposit them upon branches and tu'-igs, 

* GryUus maculatus, Harris. Catalogue of tlie Insects of Massachusetts. 

18 



138 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

in regular rows. My attention was first directed to the eggs 
of the tree-grylli by IVIr. F. C. Hill, late of Philadelphia. 

Some of these grasshoppers have the front of the head 
obtuse, and others have it conical, or prolonged to a point be- 
tween the antennae. Among the former is the insect, which, 
from its peculiar note, is called the katy-did. Its body is of a 
pale green color, the wing-covers and wings being somewhat 
darker. Its thorax is rough like shagreen, and has somewhat 
the form of a saddle, being curved downwards on each side, 
and rounded and slightly elevated behind, and is marked by 
two slightly transverse furrows. The wings are rather shorter 
than the wing-covers, and the latter are very large, oval, and 
concave, and enclose the body within their concavity, meeting 
at the edges above and below, somewhat like the two sides or 
valves of a pea-pod. The veins are large, very distinct, and 
netted like those of some leaves, and there is one vein of larger 
size running along the middle of each wing-cover, and simu- 
lating the midrib of a leaf. The musical organs of the male 
consist of a pan of taborets. They are formed by a thin and 
transparent membrane stretched in a strong half-oval frame in 
the triangular overlapping portion of each wing-cover. During 
the daytime these insects are silent, and conceal themselves 
among the leaves of trees ; but at night, they quit their lurking- 
places, and the joyous males begin the tell-tale call with which 
they enliven their silent mates. This proceeds from the friction 
of the taboret frames against each other when the wing-covers 
are opened and shut, and consists of two or three distinct 
notes almost exactly resembling articulated sounds, and corres- 
ponding with the number of, times that the wing-covers are 
opened and shut; and the notes are repeated, at intervals of a 
few minutes, for hours together. The mechanism of the tabo- 
rets, and the concavity of the wing-covers, reverberate and 
increase the sound to such a degree, that it may be heard, in 
the stillness of the night, at the distance of a quarter of a mile. 
At the approach of twilight the katy-did mounts to the upper 
branches of the tree in which he lives, and, as soon as the 
shades of evening prevail, begins his noisy babble, while rival 
notes issue from the neighboring trees, and the groves resound 



ORTHOPTERA. 139 

with the call of "katy-did, she-did," the live-long night. Of 
this insect I have met with no scientific description except my 
own, which was published in 1831 in the eighth volume of the 
" Encyclopaedia Americana," page 42. It is the PlatyphyUum * 
concam(m,-\ and measures, from the head to the end of the wing- 
covers, rather more than one inch and a half, the body alone 
being one inch in length. The piercer is broad, laterally com- 
pressed, and curved like a cimeter; and there are, in both sexes, 
two little thorn-like projections from the middle of the breast 
between the fore legs. The katy-did is found in the perfect 
state during the months of September and October, at which 
time the female lays her eggs. These are slate-colored, and 
are rather more than one eighth of an inch in length. They 
resemble tiny oval bivalve shells in shape. The insect lays 
them in two contiguous rows along the surface of a twig, the 
bark of w^hich is previously shaved off or made rough with 
her piercer. Each row consists of eight or nine eggs, placed 
somewhat obliquely, and overlapping each other a little, and 
they are fastened to the twig with a gummy substance. In 
hatching, the egg splits open at one end, and the young insect 
creeps through the cleft. I am indebted to Miss Morris for 
specimens of these eggs. 

"We have another broad-winged green grasshopper, differing 
from the katy-did, in having the wing-covers narrower, flat and 
not concave, and shorter than the wings, the thorax smooth, 
flat above, and abruptly bent downwards at a right angle on 
each side, and the breast without any projecting spines in the 
middle. The piercer has the same form as that of the katy- 
did. The musical organ of the left wing-cover, which is the 
uppermost, is not transparent, but is green and opake, and is 
traversed by a strong curved vein ; that of the right wing-cover 
is semi-transparent in the middle. This insect is the Phyllo- 
ptera oblong-ifolia,'^ or oblong leaf-winged grasshopper. Its 



* PlatyphyUum means broad-wing, 
t Can this be the Locusta perspicillata of Fabricius ? 

% Locusta ollo7igifolia of De Geer, a different species from the laurifolia of 
Linnaeus, with which it has been confounded by many naturalists. 



140 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

body measures about an inch in length, and from the head to 
the tips of the wings, from an inch and three quarters to three 
inches. It is found in its perfect state, during the months of 
September and October, upon trees, and, when it flies, makes 
a whizzing noise somewhat like that of a weaver's shuttle. 
The notes of the male, though grating, are comparatively 
feeble. The females lay their eggs in the autumn on the twigs 
of trees and shrubs, in double rows, of seven or eight eggs in 
each row. These eggs, in form, size, and color, and in their 
arrangement on the twig, strikingly resemble those of the katy- 
did. The Rev. Thomas Hill, of Waltham, had the kindness 
to procure some of them for me from Philadelphia. 

A third species, also of a green color, with still narrower 
wing-covers, which are of almost equal width from one end to 
the other, but are rounded at the tips, and are shorter than the 
wings, has the head, thorax, musical organs, and breast, like 
those of the preceding species, but the piercer is much shorter, 
and very much more crooked, being bent vertically upwards 
from near its base. The male has a long tapering projection 
from the under side of the extremity of the body, curved up- 
wards like the piercer of the female. This grasshopper belongs 
to the genus Phaneroptera, so named, probably, because the 
wings are visible beyond the tips of the wing-covers; and, as 
it does not appear to have been described before, I propose to 
call it angustifolia* the narrow-leaved. It measures from the 
forehead to the end of the abdomen about three quarters of an 
inch, and to the tips of the wings from an inch and a half to 
an inch and three quarters. Its habits appear to be the same 
as those of the oblong-ifolia. It comes to maturity sometime 
in the latter part of August or the beginning of September. 

From the middle till the end of summer, the grass in our 
meadows and moist fields is filled with myriads of httle grass- 
hoppers, of different ages, and of a light green color, with a 



* I formerly mistook this insect for the Locusta aurvicauda of De Geer, ■which, 
is found in the Middle and Southern States, but not in Massachusetts, is a larger 
species, with wing-covers broadest in the middle, and different organs in the 
male, and belongs to the genus Phylloptera. 



ORTHOPTERA. 141 

brown stripe on the top of the head, extending to the tip of 
the little smooth and blunt projection between the antennae, 
and a broader brown stripe bounded on each side by deeper 
brown on the top of the thorax. The antennae, knees, and 
shanks are green, faintly tinted with brown, and the feet are 
dusky. When come to maturity, they measure three quarters 
of an inch or more, from the forehead to the end of the body, 
or one inch to the ends of the wing-covers. The latter are 
abruptly narrowed in the middle, and taper thence to the tip, 
which, however, is rounded and extends as far back as the 
wings. The color of the wing-covers is green, but they are 
faintly tinged with brown on the overlapping portion, and have 
the delicacy and semi-transparency of the skin of an onion. 
The shrilling organs in the males consist of a transparent 
glassy spot, bounded and traversed by strong veins, in the 
middle of the overlapping portion of each wing-cover, which 
part is proportionally much larger and longer than in the other 
grasshoppers ; but the transparent spot is rather smaller on the 
left than on the right wing-cover. The male is furthermore 
distinguished by having two small black spots or short dashes, 
one behind the other, on each wing-cover, on the outside of the 
transparent spot. The wings are green on their front margins, 
transparent, and reflecting a faint pink color behind. The 
piercer of the female is cimeter-shaped, being curved, and 
pointed at the end, and is about three tenths of an inch long. 
The hindmost thighs, in both sexes, are smooth and not spinous 
beneath ; there are two little spines in the middle of the breast ; 
and the antennae are very long and slender, and extend, when 
turned back, considerably beyond the end of the hind legs. 
During the evening, and even at other times in shady places, 
the males make a sharp clicking noise, somewhat like that 
produced by snapping the point of a pen against the thumb- 
nail, but much louder. This kind of grasshopper very much 
resembles the Locusta agilis of De Geer, which is found in 
Pennsylvania and the Southern States, but does not inhabit 
Massachusetts, and is distinguished from our species by having 
the wings nearly one tenth of an inch longer than the wing- 
covers, the antennae excessively long (two inches or more), and 



142 INSECTS INJTJEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the piercer not quite so much curved as in our species, besides 
other differences which it is unnecessary to record here. As 
our species does not appear to have been named, or described 
by any previous writer, I propose to call it Orchelimum vulgare, 
the common meadow-grasshopper, the generical name signify- 
ing literally, I dance in the meadow. 

With this species another one is also found, bearing a con- 
siderable resemblance to it in color and form, but measuring 
only four or five tenths of an inch from the head to the end of 
the body, or from seven to eight tenths to the tips of the wings, 
which are a little longer than the wing-covers. The latter are 
narrow and taper to the end, which is rounded, but the over- 
lapping portion is not so large as in the common species, and 
the male has not the two black spots on each wing-cover. 
The upper part of the abdomen is brown, with the edges of 
the segments greenish yellow, and the piercer, which is nearly 
three tenths of an inch long, is brown and nearly straight. 
This little insect comes very near to Locusta fasciata of De 
Geer, who, however, makes no mention of the broad brown 
stripe on the head and thorax. I therefore presume that our 
species is not the same, and propose to call it Orchelimum 
gracile, the slender meadow-grasshopper. M. Serville, by 
whom this genus was instituted, has described three species, 
two of which are stated to be North American, and the re- 
maining one is probably also from this country; but his 
descriptions do not answer for either of our species. Both of 
these kinds of meadow-grasshoppers are eaten greedily by 
fowls of all kinds. 

One more grasshopper remains to be described. It is dis- 
tinguished from all the preceding species by having the head 
conical, and extending to a blunt point between the eyes. It 
belongs to the genus Conocephalus, a word expressive of the 
conical form of the head, and, in my Catalogue of the Insects 
of Massachusetts, bears the specific name of ensiger, the sword- 
bearer, from the long, straight, sword-shaped piercer of the 
female. It measures an inch or more from the point of the 
head to the end of the body, and from one inch and three 
quarters to two inches, to the end of the wing-covers. It is 



ORTHOPTERA. 143 

pale green, with the head whitish, or only faintly tinted with 
green, and the legs and abdomen are pale brownish green. A 
little tooth projects downwards from the under side of the 
conical part of the head, which extends between the antennae, 
and immediately before this little tooth is a black line bent 
backwards on each side like the letter U. The hindmost 
thighs have five or six exceedingly minute spines on the inner 
ridge of the under side. The shrilling organ of the male, on 
the left wing-cover, is gi'een and opake, but that on the right 
has a space in the middle that is transparent like glass. The 
piercer of the female is above an inch long, very slightly bent 
near the body, and perfectly straight from thence to the tip, 
which ends in a point. The color of this grasshopper is very 
apt to change, after death, to a dirty brown. It comes very 
near to the dissimilis described by M. Serville, but appears to 
be a different species. 

3. Locusts. (LocustadcB.) 

The various insects included under the name of locusts 
nearly all agree in having their wing-covers rather long and 
narrow, and placed obliquely along the sides of the body, 
meeting, and even overlapping for a short distance, at their 
upper edges, which together form a ridge on the back like a 
sloping roof. Their antennae are much shorter than those of 
most grasshoppers, and do not taper towards the end, but are 
nearly of equal thickness at both extremities. Their feet have 
really only three joints; but as the under side of the first joint 
is marked by one or two cross lines, the feet, when seen only 
from below, seem to be four or five jointed. The females have 
not a long projecting piercer like the crickets and grasshoppers, 
but the extremity of their body is provided with four short, 
wedge-lilvc pieces, placed in pairs above and below, and open- 
ing and shutting opposite to each other, thus forming an 
instrument like a pair of nippers, only with four short blades 
instead of two. When one of these insects is about to lay 
her eggs, she drives these little wedges into the earth ; these, 
being then opened and withdrawn, enlarge the orifice ; upon 



144 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

which the insect inserts them again, and drives them down 
deeper than before, and repeats the operation above described 
until she has formed a perforation large and deep enough to 
admit nearly the whole of her abdomen. The males, though 
capable of producing sounds, have not the cymbals and tabors 
of the crickets and grasshoppers ; their instruments may rather 
be likened to violins, their hind legs being the bows, and the 
projecting veins of their wing-covers the strings. But besides 
these, they have on each side of the body, in the first segment 
of the abdomen, just above and a little behind the thighs, a 
deep cavity closed by a thin piece of skin stretched tightly 
across it. These probably act in some measure to increase 
the reverberation of the sound, like the cavity of a violin. 
When a locust begins to play, he bends the shank of one hind 
leg beneath the thigh, where it is lodged in a furrow designed 
to receive it, and then draws the leg briskly up and down 
several times against the projecting lateral edge and veins of 
the wing-cover. He does not play both fiddles together, but 
alternately, for a little time, first upon one, and then on the 
other, standing meanwhile upon the four anterior legs and the 
hind leg which is not otherwise employed. It is stated that, 
in Spain, people of fashion keep these insects, which they call 
g-rillo, in cages, for the sake of their music. Locusts leap 
much better than grasshoppers, for the thighs of their hind 
legs, though shorter, are much thicker, and consequently more 
muscular within. The back part of the shanks of these legs, 
from a little below the knee to the end, is armed with strong 
sharp spines, arranged in two rows. These may serve as 
means of defence, but the lower ones also help to fix the legs 
firmly against the ground when the insect is going to leap. 
The power of flight in locusts is, in general, much greater 
than that of grasshoppers ; for the wing-covers, being narrow, 
do not, like the much wider ones of grasshoppers, so much 
impede their passage through the air ; while their wings, which 
are ample, except in a few species, and when expanded together 
form half of a circle, have very strong joints, and are moved 
by very powerful muscles within the chest. From the shoul- 
ders of the wings several stout ribs or veins pass towards the 



ORTHOPTERA. 145 

hinder margin, spreading apart, when the wings are opened, 
like the sticks of a fan, and are connected and strengthened by- 
little crossing veins, which form a kind of network. The same 
structure exists in the wings of grasshoppers, but in them the 
longitudinal ribs are not so strong, and the network is much 
more delicate. Hence the flight of grasshoppers is short and 
unsteady, while that of locusts is longer and better sustained. 
Many locusts, when they fly, make a loud whizzing noise, the 
source of which does not seem to be understood. Those of 
our native locusts, whose flight is the most noisy, are the coral- 
winged, the yellow-winged, and the broad-winged species. But 
as these are comparatively small insects, and never assemble in 
such great swarms as the much larger migrating locusts of 
Asia and Africa, the noise of their flight bears no comparison 
to that of the latter. When a large number of these take flight 
together, it is said that the noise is like the rushing of a whirl- 
wind ; and hence we read, of the symbolical locusts of the 
Apocalypse, that the sound of their wings was as the sound 
of chariots of horses running to battle;* and, of others, that 
their coming is like the noise of chariots on the tops of moun- 
tains, or the crackling of stubble when overrun, and consumed 
by a flame of fire.f 

The East seems to have suffered severely at various times 
from the irruptions of immense swarms of locusts, darkening 
the sky during then* passage, stripping the surface of the earth, 
where they alight, of all vestiges of vegetation, and thus re- 
ducing, in an inconceivably short time, the most fertile regions 
to barren wastes. The ground over which they have passed 
presents the appearance of having been scorched by fi.re, and 
hence the name of locust, which is derived from the Latin,^ 
and means a burnt place, is highly expressive of the desolation 
occasioned by their ravages. Famine and pestilence have 
sometimes followed their appearance, as we find recorded by 
various writers. In the Scriptures § frequent mention is made 



* Revelations IX. 11. t Joel II. 5. J Locus and ustus. 

§ For an explanation of the various passages in •which allusion is made to 
locusts, and for much interesting matter, relating to the history of these insects 

19 



146 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of the destructive powers of locusts, and these accounts are 
fully confirmed by the testimony of numerous travellers in 
Asia and Africa, some of whom have been eye-witnesses of 
the devastations of these insects. Among the later accounts, 
that contained in Ohvier's "Travels" does not seem to have 
been quoted by English writers. The following is a free trans- 
lation of the passage. Olivier, at the time of writing it, was 
in Syria. " After a burning south wind had prevailed for some 
time, there came, from the interior of Arabia and from the 
southern parts of Persia, clouds of locusts, whose ravages in 
these countries are as grievous and as sudden as the destruction 
occasioned in Europe by the most severe hail-storm. Of these 
my companion, M. Brugieres, and myself were twice witnesses. 
It is difficult to describe the effect produced on us by the sight 
of the whole atmosphere filled, on all sides, to a vast height, 
with a countless multitude of these insects, which flew along 
with a slow and even motion, and with a noise like the dashing 
of a shower of rain. The heavens were darkened by them, 
and the light of the sun was sensibly diminished. In a moment 
the roofs of the houses, the streets, and all the fields were com- 
pletely covered with these insects, and in two days they almost 
entirely devoured the foliage of every plant. Fortunately, 
however, they continued but a short time, and seemed to have 
emigrated only for the purpose of providing for a continuation 
of their kind. In fact, nearly all of them which we saw on 
the next day were paired, and in a day or two afterwards the 
ground was covered with their dead bodies."* These were 
not the still more celebrated and destructive migratory locusts 
(Locusta mig-ratoria), but consisted of the species called Aery- 
dium peregrinum. 

Although the ravages of locusts in America are not followed 
by such serious consequences as in the Eastern continent, yet 

as contained in the Bible and elucidated by the accounts of historians and 
travellers, the reader is referred to the article locust in the learned and instructive 
work of my father, entitled " The Natural History of the Bible, by Thaddeus 
Mason Harris." 8vo. Boston: 1820. 

* Olivier, Voyage dans I'Empire Ottoman, I'Egypte et la Perse. Tom. II. p. 
424. 



ORTHOPTERA. 147 

they are sufficiently formidable to have attracted attention, 
and not unfrequently have these insects laid waste considerable 
tracts, and occasioned no little loss to the cultivator of the soil. 
Our salt-marshes, which are accounted among the most pro- 
ductive and valuable of our natural meadows, are frequented 
by great numbers of the small red-legged species {Acrydium 
femiir-i'ubrum), intermingled occasionally with some larger 
kinds. These, in certain seasons, almost entirely consume the 
grass of these marshes, from whence they then take their course 
to the uplands, devouring, in their way, grass, corn, and vege- 
tables, till checked by the early frosts, or by the close of the 
natural term of their existence. When a scanty crop of hay 
has been gathered from the grounds which these puny pests 
have ravaged, it becomes so tainted with the putrescent bodies 
of the dead locusts contained in it, that it is rejected by horses 
and cattle. In this country locusts are not distinguished from 
grasshoppers, and are generally, though incorrectly, compre- 
hended under the same name, or under that of flying grass- 
hoppers. They are, however, if we make allowance for their 
inferior size, quite as voracious and injurious to vegetation 
during the young or larva and pupa states, when they are not 
provided with wings, as they are when fully grown. In our 
newspapers I have sometimes seen accounts of the devastations 
of grasshoppers, which could only be applicable to some of our 
locusts. At various times they have appeared in great abund- 
ance in different parts of New England. It is stated that, 
in Maine, "during dry seasons, they often appear in great 
multitudes, and are the greedy destroyers of the half-parched 
herbage." " In 1749 and 1754 they were very numerous and 
voracious; no vegetables escaped these greedy troops; they 
even devoured the potato tops; and in 1743 and 1756 they 
covered the whole country and threatened to devour every 
thing green. Lideed, so great was the alarm they occasioned 
among the people, that days of fasting and prayer were 
appointed,"* on account of the threatened calamity. The 



* See Williamson's History of Maine, Vol. I. pp. 102, 103, and compare with 
p. 172 of the same work. 



148 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

southern and western parts of New Hampshire, the northern 
and eastern parts of Massachusetts, and the southern part of 
Vermont have been overrun by swarms of these miscalled 
grasshoppers, and have suffered more or less from their depre- 
dations. Among the various accounts which I have seen, the 
following, extracted from the Travels of the late President 
Dwight,* seems to be the most full and circumstantial. " Ben- 
nington (Vermont), and its neighborhood, have for some time 
past been infested by grasshoppers (locusts) of a kind with 
which I had before been wholly unacquainted. At least, their 
history, as given by respectable persons, is in a great measure 
novel. They appear at different periods, in different years ; but 
the time of their continuance seems to be the same. This 
year (1798) they came four weeks earlier than in 1797, and 
disappeared four weeks sooner. As I had no opportunity of 
examining them, I cannot describe their form or their size. 
Their favorite food is clover and maize. Of the latter they 
devour the part which is called the silk ; the immediate means 
of fecundating the ear; and thus prevent the kernel from 
coming to perfection. But their voracity extends to almost 
every vegetable ; even to the tobacco plant and the bm*dock. 
Nor are they confined to vegetables alone. The garments of 
laborers, hung up in the field while they are at work, these 
insects destroy in a few hours ; and with the same voracity 
they devoiu- the loose particles which the saw leaves upon the 
surface of pine boards, and which, when separated, are termed 
sawdust. The appearance of a board fence, from which the 
particles had been eaten in this manner, and which I saw, was 
novel and singular; and seemed the result, not of the opera- 
tions of the plane, but of attrition. At times, particularly a 
little before their disappearance, they collect in clouds, rise high 
in the atmosphere, and take extensive flights, of which neither 
the cause nor the direction has hitherto been d^covered. I 
was authentically informed that some persons, employed in 
raising the steeple of the church in Williamstown, were, while 

* Travels in New England and New York, by Timothy Dwight. Vol. II. 
p. 403. 



ORTHOPTERA. 149 

standing near the vane, covered by them, and saw, at the same 
time, vast swarms of them flying far above their heads. It is to 
be observed, however, that they customarily return, and perish 
on the very grounds which they have ravaged." Through the 
kindness of the Rev. L. W. Leonard, of Dublin, New Hamp- 
shire, I have been favored with specimens of the destructive 
locusts which occasionally appear in that part of New England, 
and which, most probably, are of the same species as the in- 
sects mentioned by President Dwight. They prove to be the 
little red-legged locusts, whose ravages on our salt-marshes I 
have already recorded. In the summer of 1838, the vicinity 
of Baltimore, Maryland, was infested by insects of this kind ; 
and I was informed by a young gentleman, from that place, 
then a student in Harvard College, that they were so thick 
azid destructive in the garden and grounds of his father, that 
the negroes were employed to drive them from the garden with 
rods ; and in this way they were repeatedly whipped out of 
the grounds, leaping and flying before the extended line of 
castigators like a flock of fowls. Some of these insects were 
brought to me by the same gentleman, on his return to the 
University, at the end of the summer vacation, and they turned 
out to be specimens of the red-legged locusts already men- 
tioned. 

It is not to be supposed that these are the only depredatory 
locusts in this country. Massachusetts, alone, produces a 
large number of species, some of which have never been de- 
scribed; and the habits of many of them have not been fully 
investigated. The difficulty which I have met with in ascer- 
taining, from mere verbal reports, or from the accounts that 
occasionally appear in our public prints, the scientific names 
of the noxious insects which are the subjects of such remarks, 
and the impossibility, without this knowledge of their names, 
of fixing upon the true culprits, has induced me to draw up, 
in this treatise, brief descriptions of all our locusts, as a guide 
to other persons in their investigations. 

All the locusts of Massachusetts, that are known to me, 
may be included in three large groups or genera, viz. : Acry- 
dium (of Geoffroy and Latreille), Locusta ( Gryllus Locusta of 



150 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

LinriEEUs), and Tetrix (of Latreille). These three genera may- 
be distinguished from each other by the following characters. 

1. Acrydium. The thorax [prothorax of Kirby) and the 
wing-covers of ordinary dimensions; a projecting spine in the 
middle of the breast; and a little projecting cushion between 
the nails of all the feet. 

2. Locusta. The thorax, and usually the wing-covers also, 
of ordinary dimensions; no projecting spine in the middle of 
the breast; cushions between the nails of the feet. 

3. Tetrix. The thorax (prothorax) greatly prolonged, ta- 
pering to a point behind, and covering the whole of the back 
to the extremity of the abdomen; wing-covers exceedingly 
minute, consisting only of a little scale on each side of the 
body; fore part of the breast forming a projection, like a cravat 
or stock, to receive the lower part of the head; no spine in the 
middle of the breast; no cushions between the nails. 

I, ACRYDIUM. Spine-breasted Locusts. 

This word, which is nearly the same as one of the Greek 
names of a locust, has been variously applied by different 
entomologists. I have followed Latreille and Serville in con- 
fining it to those locusts which have a projecting spine or 
tubercle in the middle of the fore part of the breast betw^een 
the fore legs. To this genus belong the following native 
species. 

1. Acrydium alutaceum. Leather-colored locust. 

Dirty brownish yellow; a paler yellow stripe on the top of 
the head and thorax; a slightly elevated longitudinal line on 
the top of the thorax; wing-covers semitransparent, with 
irregular brownish spots ; wings transparent, uncolored, netted 
with dirty yellow ; abdomen with transverse rows of minute 
blackish dots; hindmost thighs whitish within and without, 
the white portion bounded by a row of minute distant black 
dots, and crossed, herring-bone fashion, by numerous brown 
lines; hindmost shanks reddish, with yellowish white spines, 
which are tipped with black. Length, to the end of the abdo- 
men, 1| inch ; the wing-covers expand over 3 inches. 



ORTHOPTERA. 151 

This insect was brought to me, from Martha's Vineyard, by- 
Mr. Robert Treat Paine. It bears a close resemblance in form 
to Acrydium Americanum of De Geer, a much larger and more 
showy Southern species. 

2. Acrydium flavo-vittatum* Yellow-striped locust. 

Dull green or olive-colored, with a yellowish line on each 
side from the forehead to the tips of the wing-covers; hind- 
most shanks and feet blood-red, the spines tipped with black; 
wings transparent, faintly tinged with pale green, and netted 
with greenish brown lines. The abdomen of the male is very 
obtuse and curves upwards at the end, and is furnished, on 
each side of the tip, with a rather large oblong square append- 
age, which has a little projecting angle in the middle of the 
lower side. Length, to tip of the abdomen, from 1 inch to 1^-; 
expands from 1^ inch to 2 inches. 

This and the following species probably belong to the sub- 
genus Oxya of Serville. The yellow-striped locust is one of 
our most common insects. It is readily known by its color, 
and by the two yellowish lines on the thorax, extending, when 
the insect acquires wings, along the inner margin of the wing- 
covers. It is very troublesome in gardens, climbing upon the 
stems of beans, peas, and flowers, devouring the leaves and 
petals, and defiling them with its excrement. The young 
begin to appear in June, and they come to their growth and 
acquire their wings by the first of August. When about to 
moult, like other locusts, they cling to the stem of some plant, 
till the skin bursts and the insect withdraws its body and legs 
from it, and leaves the cast-skin still fastened to the plant. 

3. Acrydium femur-rubrum. Red-legged locust. 

Grizzled with dirty olive and brown ; a black spot extending 
from the eyes along the sides of the thorax; an oblique yellow 

* This species agrees, in some respects, with Serville's Acrydium olivace^on, but 
it is a smaller insect, the hind shanks are not blue, and the last ventral segment 
of the male is not deeply notched at tip, but is entire and somewhat pointed. It 
does not agree any better Avith Say's description of Gryllus bivittatus, which 
possibly is the same as Serville's species above named. 



15S INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

line on each side of the body beneath the wings ; a row of 
dusky brown spots along the middle of the wing-covers ; and 
the hindmost shanks and feet blood-red, with black spines. 
The wings are transparent, with a very pale greenish yellow 
tint next to the body, and are netted with brown lines. The 
hindmost thighs have two large spots, on the upper side, and 
the extremity, black; but are red below, and yellow on the 
inside. The appendages at the tip of the body in the male 
are of a long triangular form. Length from | inch to 1 inch ; 
exp. 1^ to 1| inch. 

The red-legged locust was first described by De Geer from 
specimens sent to him from Pennsylvania, and I have retained 
the scientific name which he gave to it. It is the Gryllus 
(Locusta) erythrojms of Gmelin, and the Acrydium femorale of 
Olivier. It appears to be very generally diffused throughout 
the United States, and sometimes so greatly abounds, in cer- 
tain places, as to be productive of great injury to vegetation. 
I have akeady described its prevalence on our salt-marshes; 
and it seems to constitute those large migrating swarms whose 
flight has been observed and recorded in various parts of this 
country. It comes to maturity with us by the latter part of 
July ; some broods, however, a little earlier, and others later. 
It is most plentiful and destructive during the months of 
Au.gust and September, and does not disappear till some 
time in October. 

II. LOCUSTA. Locusts proper. 

With the English entomologists, I apply the name Locusta 
to that genus which includes the celebrated migrating locust, 
or Gryllus Locusta migratoria of Linnseus. By the older 
French entomologists the insects contained in it were united 
to the genus Acrydium; but Latreille afterwards separated 
them from Acrydium under the generical name of CEdipoda 
(which means swelled leg), and he is followed in this by Ser- 
ville, the latest writer on the Orthoptera. In the insects of 
this genus the breast is not armed with a blunt spine or tu- 
bercle, a character which distinguishes the genus Acrydium 
from it. In other respects these two genera are much alike. 



ORTHOPTEPtA. 153 

1. Locust a Carolina* Carolina locust. 

Pale yellowish brown, with small dusky spots; wings black, 
with a broad yellow hind margin, which is covered with dusky 
spots at the tip. Length from 1 to 1| inch; exp. 2| to above 
3| inches. 

A more detailed description of this large, common, and well- 
known species is unnecessary. The Carolina locust is found 
in abundance by the road-side, from the middle to the end of 
summer. It generally makes use of its large and handsome 
wings in moving from place to place. It is frequently found 
in company with the red-legged locust in the vicinity of salt 
marshes, but it generally prefers warm and dry situations. 
Pairing takes place with this species in the months of Sep- 
tember and October, immediately after which the female 
prepares to lay her eggs. These are deposited at the bottom 
of a cylindrical hole in the ground, made in the manner 
akeady described, and are not hatched till the following spring. 
The abdomen of the female admits of being greatly extended 
in length; hence she frequently deposits her eggs at the depth 
of nearly two inches beneath the surface of the soil. 

2. Locusta coralUna. Coral-winged locust. 

Light brown; spotted with dark ])rown on the wing-covers; 
wings light vermilion or coral-red, with an external dusky 
border, which is wide and paler at the tip, narrowed and 
darker behind; hind shanks yellow with black-tipped spines. 
Length 1 to 1| inch; exp. 2| to 2^ inches. 

This species closely resembles the Acridium tuberculatum of 
Palisot de Beauvois, which seems to be the (Edipoda discoidea 
of Serville, found in the Southern States, of a much larsrer 
size than the coral-winged locust, and having the wings of a 
much deeper and duller red color, and the blackish border not 
so much narrowed behind. It cannot be mistaken for the 
fenestralis, which M. Serville describes as having the antenuEe 
nearly as long as the body, whereas in this species they are 
not half that length. The coral-w^inged locust is the first that 

* Gri/llus Locusta Carolinus, Linntcus. 

20 



154 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

makes its appearance with wings in the spring, being found 
flying about in warm and dry pastures as early as the middle 
of April or the first of May, and is rendered very conspicuous 
by its bright colored wings, and the loud noise which it makes 
in flying. It probably passes the winter in the pupa state, 
and undergoes its last transformation in the spring; but its 
history is not yet fully known to me, and this opinion is the 
result only of conjecture. 

3. Locusta sulplmrea. Yellow-winged locust. 

Dusky brown ; thorax slightly keeled in the middle ; wing- 
covers ash-colored at their extremities, more or less distinctly 
spotted with brown; wings deep yellow next to the body, 
dusky at tip, the yellow portion bounded beyond the middle 
by a broad dusky brown band, which curves and is prolonged 
on the hind margin, but does not reach the angle next to the 
extremity of the body; hindmost thighs blackish at the end, 
and with two black and two whitish bands on the inside; 
hindmost shanks and their spines black, with a broad whitish 
ring just below the knees. Length -^^ to 1\ inch; exp. 1| to 
2\ inches. 

This insect agrees tolerably well with the brief description 
given by Fabricius of his Gryllus svlphureus, except that the 
wings are not sulphur-yellow, but of a deeper tint. It is also 
described and figured by Palisot de Beauvois under the name 
of Acridium sulphureum. It is a rare species in this vicinity. 
I have taken it, though sparingly, in its perfect state, in May 
and in September. The elevated ridge on the top of the thorax 
is higher than in any other species found in Massachusetts. 

4. Locusta Maritima. Maritime locust. 

Ash-gray ; face variegated with white ; wing-covers sprinkled 
with minute brownish spots, and semitransparent at tip ; wings 
transparent, faintly tinted with yellow next the body, uncolored 
at tip, with a series of irregular blackish spots forming a curved 
band across the middle ; hindmost shanks and feet pale yellow, 
with the extreme points of the spines black. Length f to l^^ 
inch ; exp. 1^^^ inch to 2| inches. 



I 



ORTHOPTERA. 155 

This species comes very near to Mr. Kirby's description of 
the Lociista len co stoma ; but is evidently distinct from it, and 
does not appear to have been described before. I have received 
it from Sandwich, and have found it in great abundance among 
the coarse grass which grows near the edges of our sandy 
beaches, but have never seen it except in the immediate vicinity 
of the sea. It comes to maturity and lays its eggs about the 
middle of August or a little later. 

5. Locusta oequalis. Barren-ground locust. 

Ash-gray, mottled with dusky brown and white ; wing-covers 
semitransparent at tip, with numerous dusky spots which run 
together so as to form three transverse bands; wings light 
yellow on their basal half, transparent with dusky veins and a 
few spots at the tip, with an intermediate broad black band, 
which, cruving and becoming narrower on the hind margin, is 
continued to the inner angle of the wing; hindmost shanks 
coral-red, with a broad white ring below the knees, and the 
spines tipped with black. Length 1^ inch ; exp. 2\ inches. 

Mr. Say, to whom I sent a specimen of this handsome lo- 
cust, informed me that it was his Gnjllus equalis, probably 
intended for oequalis. It is found, during the months of July 
and August, on dry barren hills and on sandy plains, upon the 
scanty herbage intermingled with the reindeer moss. 

6. Locusta latipennis. Broad-winged locust. 

Ash-colored, mottled with black and gray; wing-covers 
semitransparent beyond the middle, with numerous blackish 
spots which run together at the base, and form a band across 
the middle ; wings broad. Light yellow on the basal half, the 
remainder dusky but partially transparent, with black network, 
and deep black at tip, and an intermediate irregular band, 
formed by a contiguous series of black spots, reaching only to 
the hind margin, but not continued towards the inner angle ; 
hindmost shanks pale yellow, with a black ring below the 
knees, a broader one at the extremity, and a blackish spot 
behind the upper part of the shank. Length -^^ inch; exp. 
1-^Q inch. 



156 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

It is possible that this may be a variety of the preceding 
species, from which it differs especially in the form and width 
of the wings and in the colors of the hindmost shanks. It is 
found in the same places, and at the same time as the barren- 
ground locust. 

7. Locusta marmorata. Marbled locust. 

Ash-colored, variegated with pale yellow and black; thorax 
suddenly narrowed before the middle, and the slightly elevated 
longitudinal line on the top is cut through in the middle by a 
transverse fissure ; wing-covers marbled with large whitish and 
black spots, and semitransparent at the end; wings light yel- 
low on the half next to the body, transparent near the end, 
with two black spots on the tip, and a broad intermediate 
black band, which, narrowed and curving inwards on the hind 
margin, nearly reaches the inner angle ; hindmost thighs pale 
yellow, black at the extremity, and nearly suiTounded by two 
broad black bands; hind shanks coral-red, with a black ring 
immediately below the knee, and followed by a white ring, 
black at the lower extremity also, with the tips of the spines 
black. In some individuals there is an additional black ring 
below the white one on the shanks. Length from -^-^ to above 
-j^Q inch; exp. l^^^^ to 1^^^ inch. 

The marbled locust, which is one of our prettiest species, is 
found in the open places contiguous to or within pitch-pine 
woods, flying over the scanty grass and reindeer moss which 
not unfrequently grow in these situations. It is marked on 
the wings somewhat like the barren-ground locust, but is inva- 
riably smaller, with the thorax much more contracted before 
the middle. It appears, in the perfect state, from the middle 
of July to the middle of October. 

8. Locusta eucerata. Long-horned locust. 

Ash-colored, variegated with gray and dark brown ; antennae 
nearly as long as the body, and with flattened joints; thorax 
very much pinched or compressed laterally before the middle, 
with a slightly elevated longitudinal line, which is interrupted 
by two notches; wing-covers and wings long and narrow; the 



ORTHOPTERA. 157 

former variegated with dusky spots, and semitransparent at 
tip; wings next to the body yellow, sometimes pale, sometimes 
deep and almost orange colored, at other times uncolored and 
semitransparent; with abroad black band across the middle, 
which is narrowed and prolonged on the hinder margin, and 
extends quite to the inner angle; beyond the band the wings 
are transparent, with the tips black or covered with blackish 
spots; hindmost shanks whitish, with a black ring at each end, 
a broader one of the same color just above the middle, and the 
spines tipped with black. Length -|- inch to -^^ inch ; exp. l-j^^ 
inch to more than 1^ inch. 

The wings of this species are very variable in color at the 
base. The fenestralis described by M. Serville has the base of 
the wings vermilion red, but in other respects it approaches to 
this species. The long-horned locust is found oftentimes in 
company with the marbled species, and also near sea-beaches 
with the maritime locust, from the last of July to the middle 
of October. 

9. Locusta nehulosa. Clouded locust. 

Dusky brown; thorax with a slender keel-like elevation, 
which is cut across in the middle by a transverse fissure; 
wing-covers pale, clouded, and spotted with brown; wings 
transparent, dusky at tip, with a dark brown line on the front 
margin; hindmost shanks brown, with darker spines, and a 
broad whitish ring below^ the knees. Length from -^^ inch to 
more than 1^^ inch; exp. from 1|- inch to more than 2 inches. 

A very common species, and easily known by its clouded 
wing-covers and colorless wings. It abounds in pastures, and 
even in corn-fields and gardens, during the months of Septem- 
ber and October, at which time it is furnished with wings and 
may often be seen paired or busied in laying eggs. It does 
not appear to have been described before. 

The three following locusts differ from the preceding in 
having the antennae shorter than the thorax, and slightly thick- 
ened towards the end, and the face somewhat oblique, the 
mouth being nearer the breast than in our other species of 
Locusta; and they seem to constitute a distinct group or sub- 



158 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

genus, which may receive the name of Tragocephala, or goat- 
headed locusts. 

10. Locusta ( Tragocephala) infuscata. Dusky locust. 

Dusky brown; thorax with a slender keel-like elevation; 
wing-covers faintly spotted with brown; wings transparent, 
pale greenish yellow next to the body, with a large dusky cloud 
near the middle of the hind margin, and a black line on the 
front margin ; hind thighs pale, with two large black spots on 
the inside ; hind shanks brown, with darker spines, and a broad 
whitish ring below the knees. Length | inch ; exp. above 1|- 
inch. 

This somewhat resembles the clouded locust, from which, 
however, it is easily distinguished by its much shorter antennsB 
and the dusky cloud on the hinder margin of the wings. I 
have captured it in pastures, in the perfect state, from the 
middle of May to near the end of July. I believe that it has 
never been described before. 

11. Locusta ( Tragocephala) viridi-fasciata. Green-striped 

locust. 

Green ; thorax keeled above ; wing-covers with a broad green 
stripe on the outer margin extending from the base beyond the 
middle and including two small dusky spots on the edge, the 
remainder dusky but semitransparent at the end ; wings trans- 
parent, very pale greenish yellow next to the body, with a 
large dusky cloud near the middle of the hind margin, and a 
black line on the front margin ; antennae, fore and middle legs 
reddish ; hind thighs green, with two black spots in the furrow 
beneath; hind shanks blue-gray, with a broad whitish ring 
below the knees, and the spines whitish, tipped with black. 
Length about 1 inch ; exp. from more than If to nearly 2 inches. 

This insect is the Acrydium viridi-f as datum of De Geer, 
who was the first describer of it, the Gryllus Virginianus of 
Fabricius, the Gryllus Locusta chrysomelas of Gmelin, the 
Acrydium marginatum of Olivier, and the Acridium hemipterum 
of Palisot de Beauvois. It is remarkable that a species, so 
strongly marked as this is, should have been so profusely 



ORTHOPTERA. 159 

named. Palisot de Beauvois seems to have selected the most 
appropriate name for it; for the green portion of the wing- 
covers is thick and opake, and the dusky portion thin and 
semitransparent, as in the wing-covers of Hemipterous insects. 
It is very common in pastures and mowing lands from the 
first of June to the middle of August, being found in various 
states of maturity throughout this period. The young also 
appear still earlier, and are readily known by their green color, 
and large compressed thorax, which is arched and crested or 
keeled above, and by their very short and flattened antennae. 
These locusts are sometimes very troublesome in gardens, 
living upon the leaves of vegetables and flowers, and attacking 
the buds and half expanded petals. The larvae or young sur- 
vive the winter, sheltered among the roots of grass and under 
leaves. 

12. Locusta ( Tragocephala) radiaia. Radiated locust. 

Rust-brown; thorax keeled above; wing-covers entirely 
brown, but semitransparent at the end; wings transparent, 
with brown network, and the principal longitudinal veins 
black; they are very faintly tinted with green next to the 
body, have a large dusky cloud near the middle of the hind 
margin, and a brown streak on the front margin ; hind shanks 
reddish brown, a little paler below the knees, and the spines 
tipped with black. Length about 1 inch ; exp. from 1| to 2 
inches. 

This species is now for the first time described. It seems 
to be rare. I captured one specimen in Cambridge on the 
first of July, and have received another from Dr. D. S. C. H. 
Smith of Sutton, Massachusetts. It is found in North Caro- 
lina as early as the month of May in the perfect state. 

The following species have the face still more oblique than 
the foregoing, but the antennae are much longer, particularly 
in the males, in which they nearly equal the body in length, 
and are not enlarged towards the end. The eyes are oval and 
oblique, and there is a deep hollow before each of them for 
the reception of the first joint of the antennae. The thorax is 
not crested or keeled, but is flattened above, with three slender 



160 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

threadlike elevated lines, and the hind margin is very nearly 
transverse, or not much (if at all) angulated behind. The 
wing-covers and wings are extremely short. The hind legs 
are long and slender. I propose therefore to separate these 
species from the other locusts under a subgenus by the name 
of Chloealtis, derived from the Greek, and signifying a grass- 
hopper. 

13. Locusta ( Chloealtis) conspersa. Sprinkled locust. 

Light bay, sprinkled with black spots ; a black line on the 
head behind each eye, extending on each side of the thorax 
on the lateral elevated line; wing-covers oblong oval, pale 
yellowish brown, with numerous small darker brown spots; 
wings about three twentieths of an inch long, transparent, 
with dusky lines at the tip; hind shanks pale red, with the 
spines black at the end. Length nearly -^^ inch. 

This may be merely a variety of the following species, 
though very differently colored. 

14. Locusta ( Chloealtis) abortiva. Abortive locust. 

Brown; wing-covers with dark brown veins and confluent 
spots, covering two thirds of the abdomen ; wings three twen- 
tieths of an inch long, transparent, with dusky lines at the 
tip; hind margin of the thorax straight; hind shanks coral- 
red, whitish just below the knees, the spines tipped with black. 
Length nearly -^^ inch. 

This and the preceding locust, have much the appearance 
of pupsB or young insects, nevertheless I believe that their 
wings and wing-covers never become larger, and Mr. Leonard 
informs me that they are found paired. I have captured the 
abortive locust in pastures near the end of July. 

15. Locusta ( Chloealtis) curtipennis. Short-winged locust, 

Olive-gray above, variegated with dark gray and black ; legs 
and body beneath yellow; a broad black line extends from 
behind each eye on the sides of the thorax; wing-covers, in 
the male, as long as the abdomen, in the female, covering two 
thirds of the abdomen ; wings rather shorter than the wing- 



ORTHOPTERA. 161 

covers, transparent, and faintly tinged with yellow; hinder 
knees black; spines on the hind shanks tipped with black. 
Length from | to more than y^^ inch; exp. from -^^ to nearly 1 
inch. 

The flight of the short-wingdd locust is noiseless and short, 
but it leaps well. Great numbers of these insects are found 
in our low meadows, in the perfect state, from the first of 
August till the middle of October. They are easily distin- 
guished from other locusts by their short and narrow wings, 
by the yellow color of the body beneath, and by the yellow 
legs and black knees. 

III. TETRix. Grouse-locust. 

The Greeks applied the name of Tetrix to some kind of 
grouse, probably the heath-cock of Europe, and Latreille 
adopted it for a genus of locusts in which, perhaps, he fan- 
cied some resemblance to the bird in question. Linneeus 
placed these locusts in a division of his genus Gryllus, which 
he called Bulla, a name that ought to have been retained for 
them. The principal distinguishing characters of the genus 
have already been given, and I will only add that the body is 
broadest between the middle legs, narrows gradually to a point 
behind, and very abruptly to the head, which is much smaller 
than in the other locusts. The wings are large, forming nearly 
the quadrant of a circle, thin and delicate, and scalloped on 
the edge ; when not in use they are folded beneath the pro- 
jecting thorax. The four boring appendages of the females 
are notched on their edges with fine teeth, like a saw. La- 
treille and Serville have stated that the antennas consist of 
only thirteen or fourteen joints ; but some of our native species 
have twenty-tAvo joints in the antennae. Upon this variation 
I would arrange those now to be described in two groups. 

I. Antenna 14t-Jointed; eyes very prominent, with a project- 
ing ridge betiveen them, formed by a horizontal extension of the 
flat top of the head; thorax prolonged beyond the extremity of 
the body. 

21 



162 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

1. Tetrix ornata. Ornamented grouse-locust. 

Dark ash-colored ; a large white patch between four black 
spots on the top of the thorax ; a white spot on the top of the 
hind thighs; thorax nearly or quite as long as the wings. 
Length i J to -^^ inch to the apex of the thorax. 

This species varies in wanting the white spot on the top of 
the thorax sometimes. It was first described by Mr. Say, 
under the name of Acrydium ornatum* 

2. Tetrix dorsalis. Red-spotted grouse-locust. 
Rusty black, with ochre-yellow spots on the sides and legs, 

and a large rust-red spot on the top of the thorax; wings ex- 
tending beyond the apex of the thorax. Length |- inch. 

3. Tetrix quadrimaculata. Four-spotted grouse-locust. 

Ash-colored or dark gray above, variegated with black ; four 
velvet-black spots on the top of the thorax; wings projecting 
beyond the extremity of the thorax. Length from -^^ to -^^ of 
an inch. 

This is a shorter and thicker species than the ornamented 
grouse-locust. It is not uncommon in pastures from the first 
of May to the first of June. 

4. Tetrix bilineata. Two-lined grouse-locust. 

Ash-colored ; thorax paler, with a narrow angular whitish 
line, on each side, extending from the head beyond the middle ; 
the angular portion including a long blackish patch on each 
side ; wings, in the male, rather shorter than the thorax, in the 
female longer. Length from -^^ to more than -^^^ inch. 

5. Tetrix sordida. Sordid grouse-locust. 

Yellowish ash-colored; thorax with minute elevated black 
points; wings, in both sexes, rather longer than the thorax. 
Length from 2^^^ inch to nearly ^ inch. 

I have taken this species both in May and September, and 

* American Entomology. Vol. I. plate 5. 



ORTHOPTERA. 163 

have received a specimen from Dr. D. S. C. H. Smith, of Sut- 
ton, Massachusetts. 

11. Antennce 22-jointed ; eyes hardly prominent, top of the 
head not horizontal hetiveen them, hut curving- toivards the front, 
ivith a very slightly projecting ridge; wings smaller than in 
those of the preceding group. 

6. Tetrix lateralis. Black-sided grouse-locust. 

Pale brown ; sides of the body blackish ; thorax yellowish 
clay-colored, shorter than the wings, but longer than the body; 
wing-covers with a small white spot at the tips; male with 
the face and the edges of the lateral margins of the thorax 
yellow. Length from ^^ to -^^ of an inch. 

This species was first described by Mr. Say under the name 
of Acrydium laterale.* I have taken it from the middle of 
April to the middle of May. It varies in being darker above 
sometimes. 

7. Tetrix parvipennis. Small-winged grouse-locust. 

Dark brown; sides blackish; thorax clay -colored or pale 
brown, about as long as the body; wing-covers with a small 
white spot at the tips ; wings much shorter than the thorax ; 
male with the face and the edges of the lateral margins of the 
thorax yellow. Length from -^^ to more than -^^ inch. 

This species is much shorter and thicker than the Tetrix 
lateralis. I have taken it in April and May, in the perfect 
state, and have found the pupae near the end of July. 

The habits of the grouse-locusts are said to be absolutely 
the same as those of other locusts. They seem, however, to 
be more fond of heat, being generally found in grassy places, 
on banks, by the sides of the road, and even on the naked 
sands, exposed to the full influence of the sun throughout the 
day. They are extremely agile, and consequently very difficult 
to capture, for they leap to an astonishing distance, considering 
their small size, being moreover aided in this motion by their 
ample wings. The young, which are deprived of wings, are 

* American Entomology. Vol. I. plate 5. 



164 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

generally found about midsummer, and are readily distin- 
guished by the thorax, which is somewhat like a reversed boat, 
being furnished with a longitudinal ridge or keel from one end 
to the other. These little locusts are analogous to the insects 
belonging to the genus Memhracis in the order Hemiptera, 
which also are distinguished by a very large thorax covering 
the whole of the upper side of the body, small wing-covers, 
and have the faculty of making gi'eat leaps. Indeed these two 
kinds of insects very naturally connect the orders Orthoptera 
and Hemiptera together. 

After so much space has been devoted to an account of the 
ravages of grasshoppers and locusts, and to the descriptions 
of the insects themselves, perhaps it may be expected that the 
means of checking and destroying them should be fully ex- 
plained. The naturalist, however, seldom has it in his power 
to put in practice the various remedies which his knowledge 
or experience may suggest. His proper province consists in 
examining the living objects about him with regard to their 
structure, their scientific arrangement, and their economy or 
history. In doing this, he opens to others the way to a suc- 
cessful course of experiments, the trial of which he is generally 
obliged to leave to those wdio are more favorably situated for 
their performance. 

In the South of France the people make a business, at 
certain seasons of the year, of collecting locusts and their 
eggs, the latter being turned out of the ground in little masses 
cemented and covered with a sort of gum in which they are 
enveloped by the insects. Rewards are offered and paid for 
then* collection, half a franc being given for a kilogramme 
(about 2 lb. 3| oz. avoirdupois) of the insects, and a quarter 
of a franc for the same weight of their eggs. At this rate 
twenty thousand francs were paid in Marseilles, and twenty- 
five thousand in Aries, in the year 1613; in 1824, five thousand 
five hundred and forty-two, and in 1825, six thousand two 
hundred francs were paid in Marseilles. It is stated that an 
active boy can collect from six to seven kilogrammes (or from 
13 lb. 3 oz. 13.22 dr. to 15 lb. 7 oz. 2.09 dr.) of eggs in one 
day. The locusts are. taken by means of a piece of stout 



ORTHOPTERA. 165 

cloth, carried by four persons, two of whom draw it rapidly 
along, so that the edge may sweep over the surface of -the 
soil, and the two others hold up the cloth behind at an angle 
of forty-five degrees.* This contrivance seems to operate 
somewhat like a horserake, in gathering the insects into win- 
rows or heaps, from which they are speedily transferred to 
large sacks. A somewhat similar plan has been successfully 
tried in this country, as appears by an account extracted from 
the " Portsmouth Journal," and published in the " New Eng- 
land Farmer." f It is there stated that, in July 1826, Mr. 
Arnold Thompson, of Epsom, New Hampshire, caught, in 
one evening, between the hours of eight and twelve, in his 
own and his neighbor's grain fields, five bushels and three 
pecks of grasshoppers, or more properly locusts. " His mode 
of catching them was by attaching two sheets together, and 
fastening them to a pole, which was used as the front part of 
the drag. The pole extended beyond the width of the sheets, 
so as to admit persons at both sides to draw it forward. At 
the sides of the drag, braces extended from the pole to raise 
the back part considerably from the ground, so that the grass- 
hoppers could not escape. After running the drag about a 
dozen rods with rapidity, the braces were taken out, and the 
sheets doubled over; the grasshoppers were then swept from 
each end towards the centre of the sheet, where was left an 
opening to the mouth of a bag which held about half a bushel ; 
when deposited and tied up, the drag was again opened and 
ready to proceed. When this bag was filled so as to become 
burdensome (their weight is about the same as that of the 
same measure of corn), the bag was opened into a larger 
one, and the grasshoppers received into a new deposit. The 
drag can be used only in the evening, when the grasshoppers 
are perched on the top of the grain. His manner of destroying 
them was by dipping the large bags into a kettle of boiling 
water. When boiled, they had a reddish appearance, and 
made a fine feast for the farmer's hogs." When these insects 

* See Annales de la Socictc Entomologique de France. Vol. II. pp. 486-489. 
t Vol. V. p. 5. 



166 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

are very prevalent on our salt marshes, it M^ill be advisable to 
mow the grass early, so as to secure a crop before it has suf- 
fered much loss. The time for doing this will be determined 
by data furnished in the foregoing pages, where it will be seen 
that the most destructive species come to maturity during the 
latter part of July. If then, the marshes are mowed about 
the first of July, the locusts, being at that time small and not 
provided with wings, will be unable to migrate, and will con- 
sequently perish on the ground for the want of food, while a 
tolerable crop of hay will be secured, and the marshes will 
suffer less from the insects during the following summer. This, 
like all other preventive measures, must be generally adopted, 
in order to prove effectual ; for it will avail a farmer but little 
to take preventive measures on his own land, if his neighbors, 
who are equally exposed and interested, neglect to do the 
same. Among the natural means which seem to be appointed 
to keep these insects in check, violent winds and storms may be 
mentioned, which sometimes sweep them off" in great swarms, 
and cast them into the sea. Vast numbers are drowned by 
the high tides that frequently inundate our marshes. They 
are subject to be attacked by certain thread-like brown or 
blackish worms (Filaria), resembling in appearance those called 
horse-hair eels (Gordius). I have taken three or four of these 
animals out of the body of a single locust. They are also 
much infested by little red mites, belonging apparently to the 
genus Ocypete; these so much weaken the insects by sucking 
the juices from their bodies, as to hasten their death. Ten or 
a dozen of these mites will frequently be found pertinaciously 
adhering to the body of a locust, beneath its wing-covers and 
wings. A kind of sand-wasp preys upon grasshoppers, and 
provisions her nest with them. Many birds devour them, 
particularly our domestic fowls, which eat great numbers of 
grasshoppers, locusts, and even crickets. Young turkeys, if 
allowed to go at large during the summer, derive nearly the 
whole of their subsistence from these insects. 



HEMIPTERA. 167 



HEMIPTERA. 

Bugs. — Squash-Bug. Chixch-Bug. Plant-Bugs. — Harvest-Flies. — Tree- 
HoppEus. Leaf-Hoppers. Vine-Hopper. Bean-Hopper. — Thrips. — 
Plant-Lice. American Blight. — Enemies of Plant-Lice. — Bark-Lice. 

The word bug seems originally to have been used for any 
frightful object, whether real or imaginary, whose appearance 
was to be feared at night. It was applied in the same sense 
as bugbear, and also as a term of contempt for something 
disagreeable or hateful. In later times it became, with the 
common people, a general name for insects, which, being little 
known, were viewed with dislike or terror. At present, how- 
ever, we can say, with L' Estrange, though "we have a horror 
for uncouth monsters, upon experience all these bugs grow 
familiar and easy to us." We would except, from this remark, 
those domestic nocturnal species to which the name is now 
applied by way of preeminence; the real, by an easy transi- 
tion in the use of language, having assumed the name of the 
imaginary objects of terror and disgust by night. 

Entomologists now use the word bug for various kinds of 
insects, all, like the bed-bug, having the mouth provided with 
a slender beak, which, when not in use, is bent under the body, 
and lies upon the breast between the legs. This instrument 
consists of a horny sheath, containing, in a groove along its 
upper surface, three stiff bristles as sharp as needles. Bugs 
have no jaws, but live by sucking the juices of animals and 
plants, which they obtain by piercing them with their beaks. 
Although the domestic kinds above-mentioned are without 
wing-covers and wings, yet most bug^ have both, and, with 
the former, belong to an order called Hemiptera, literally half- 
wings, on account of the peculiar construction of their wing- 
covers, the hinder half of which is thin and filmy like the 
wings, while the fore part is thick and opake. There are, 
however, other insects provided with the same kind of beak, 



168 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

but having the wing-covers sometimes entirely transparent, 
and sometimes more or less opake, and these, by most ento- 
mologists, are also classed among Hemipterous insects, because 
they come much nearer to them than to any other insects, in 
structure and habits. Bugs, like other insects, undergo three 
changes, but they retain nearly the same form in all their stages; 
for the only transformation to which they are subject, from the 
young to the adult state, is occasioned by the gradual develop- 
ment of their wing-covers and wings, and the growth of their 
bodies, which make it necessary for them repeatedly to throw 
off their skins, to allow of their increase in size. Young, 
half-grown, and mature, all live in the same way, and all are 
equally active. The young come forth from the egg without 
wing-covers and wings, which begin to appear in the form of 
little scales on the top of their backs as they grow older, and 
increase in size with each successive moulting of the skin, till 
they are fully developed in the full-grown insect. 

The Hemiptera are divided into two groups, distinguished 
by the following characters. 

1. Bugs, or True Hemiptera {Hemiptera hete?'optera), in 
which the wing-covers are thick and opake at the base, but 
thin and more or less transparent and wing-like at the tips, 
are laid horizontally on the top of the back, and cross each 
other obliquely at the end, so that the thin part of one wing- 
cover overlaps the same part of the other; the wings are also 
horizontal, and are not plaited; the head is more or less hori- 
zontal, and the beak issues from the fore part of it, and is 
abruptly bent backwards beneath the under side of the head, 
and the breast. Some of the insects belonging to this division 
live on animal, and others on vegetable juices. 

2. Harvest-flies, Plant-lice, and Bark-lice (Hemiptera 
homoptera), in which the wing-covers are, as the scientific name 
implies, of one texture throughout, and are either entirely thin 
and transparent, like wings, or somewhat thicker and opake ; 
they are not horizontal, and do not cross each other at their 
extremities, but, together with the wings, are more or less in- 
clined at the sides of the body, like the wing-covers of locusts ; 
the face is either vertical, or slopes obliquely under the body, 



HEMIPTERA. 169 

SO that the beak issues from the under side of the head close 
to the breast. All the insects included in this division, live on 
vegetable juices. 

I. BUGS. {Ilemiptera heteroptera.) 

The hemipterous insects belonging to this division are vari- 
ous kinds of bugs, properly so called, such as squash-bugs, 
bed-bugs, fruit-bugs, water-bugs, water-boatmen, and many 
others, for which there are no common names in our language. 
In my Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts, the scientific 
names of ninety-five native species are given; but, as the mere 
description of these insects, unaccompanied by any details 
respecting their economy and habits, would not interest the 
majority of readers, and as I am not sufficiently prepared to 
furnish these details at present, I shall confine my remarks to 
two or three species only. 

The common squash-bug, Coreus tristis, so well known for 
the injurious effects of its punctures on the leaves of squashes, 
is one of the most remarkable of these insects. It was first 
described by De Geer, who gave it the specific name of tristis, 
from its sober color, which Gmelin unwarrantably changed to 
mrEstns, having, however, the same meaning. Fabricius called 
it Coreus rngator^ the latter word signifying one who wrinkles, 
which was probably applied to this insect, because its punc- 
tures cause the leaves of the squash to become wrinkled. Mr. 
Say, not being aware that this insect had already been three 
times named and described, redescribed it under the name of 
Coreus ordinatus. Of these four names, however, that of 
tristis, being the first, is the only one which it can retain. 
Coreus, its generical name, was altered by Fabricius from 
Coris, a word used by the Greeks for some kind of bug 
About the last of October squash-bugs desert the plants upon 
which they have lived during the summer, and conceal them- 
selves in crevices of walls and fences, and other places of 
security, where they pass the winter in a torpid state. On 
the return of warm weather, they issue from their winter quar- 
ters, and when the vines of the squash have put forth a few 
rough leaves, the bugs meet beneath their shelter, pair, and 
22 



170 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

immediately afterwards begin to lay their eggs. This usually 
happens about the last of June or beginning of July, at which 
time, by carefully examining the vines, we shall find the insects 
on the ground or on the stems of the vines, close to the ground, 
from which they are hardly to be distinguished on account of 
their dusky color. This is the place where they generally re- 
main, during the daytime, apparently to escape observation; 
but at night they leave the ground, get beneath the leaves, 
and lay their eggs in little patches, fastening them with a 
gummy substance to the under sides of the leaves. The eggs 
are round, and flattened on two sides, and are soon hatched. 
The young bugs are proportionally shorter and more rounded 
than the perfect insects, are of a pale ash-color, and have quite 
large antennae, the joints of which are somewhat flattened. 
As they grow older and increase in size, after moulting their 
skins a few times, they become more oval in form, and the 
under side of their bodies gradually acquires a dull ochre- 
yellow color. They live together at first in little swarms or 
families beneath the leaves upon which they were hatched, 
and which, in consequence of the numerous punctures of the 
insects, and the quantity of sap imbibed by them, soon wither, 
and eventually become brown, dry, and wrinkled; when the 
insects leave them for fresh leaves, which they exhaust in the 
same way. As the eggs are not all laid at one time, so the 
bugs are hatched in successive broods, and consequently will 
be found in various stages of growth through the summer. 
They, however, attain their full size, pass through their last 
transformation, and appear in their perfect state, or fm-nished 
with wing-covers and wings, during the months of September 
and October. In this last state the squash-bug measures six 
tenths of an inch in length. It is of a rusty black color above, 
and of a dirty ochre-yellow color beneath, and the sharp lateral 
edges of the abdomen, which project beyond the closed wing- 
covers, are spotted with ochre-yellow. The thin overlapping 
portion of the wing-covers is black ; the wings are transparent, 
but are dusky at their tips ; and the upper side of the abdo- 
men, upon which the wings rest when not in use, is of a deep 
black color, and velvety appearance. The ground-color of this 



HEMIPTERA. 171 

insect is really ochre-yellow, and the rusty black hue of the 
head, thorax, thick part of the wing-covers, and legs, is occa- 
sioned by numerous black punctures, that, on the head, are 
arranged in two broad black longitudinal lines, between which, 
as well as on the margin of the thorax, the yellow is distinctly 
to be seen. On the back part of the head of this bug, and 
rather behind the eyes, are two little glassy elevated spots, 
which are called eyelets, and which are supposed to enable 
the insect to see distant objects above it, while the larger eyes 
at the sides of the head are for nearer objects around it. Eye- 
lets are also to be found in grasshoppers, locusts, and many 
other insects. In some of our species of Coreus there is a 
little thorn at the base of the antennae, the legs are also thorny 
on the under side, and the hindmost thighs are mvich thicker 
than the others; but none of these characters are found in 
squash-bugs.* When handled, and still more when crushed, 
the latter give out an odor precisely similar to that of an over- 
ripe pear, but far too powerful to be agreeable. 

In order to prevent the ravages of these insects, they should 
be sought and killed when they are about to lay their eggs ; 
and if any escape our observation at this time, their eggs may 
be easily found and crushed. With this view the squash-vines 
must be visited daily, during the early part of their growth, 
and must be carefully examined for the bugs and their eggs. 
A very short time spent in this way every day, in the proper 
season, will save a great deal of vexation and disappointment 
afterwards. If this precaution be neglected or deferred till 
the vines have begun to spread, it will be exceedingly difficult 
to exterminate the insects, on account of their numbers ; and, 
if at this time dry weather should prevail, the vines will suffer 
so much from the bugs and drought together, as to produce 
but little if any fruit. Whatever contributes to bring forward 
the plants rapidly, and to promote the vigor and luxuriance of 
their foliage, renders them less liable to suffer by the exhausting 
punctures of the young bugs. Water drained from a cow- 

* They appear to belong to the genus Gonocerus of Burmcister. 



172 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

yard, and similar preparations, have, with this intent, been 
applied with benefit. 

The wheat- fields and corn-fields of the South and "West 
often suffer severely from the depredations of certain minute 
bugs, long known there by the name of chinch-bugs, which 
fortunately have not yet been observed in New England.* It 
is not improbable, however, that they may spread in this 
direction, and attack our growing grain and other crops. In 
anticipation of such a sad event, and to gratify a curiosity 
that has been expressed concerning these offensive insects, I 
venture to offer a few remarks upon them. Attention seems 
early to have been directed to them. They are mentioned in 
the eleventh volume of Young's " Annals of Agriculture," 
published, I believe, about 1788. From this work Messrs. 
Kirby and Spence probably obtained the following account, 
contained in the first volume of their interesting " Introduction 
to Entomology." " America suffers in its wheat and maize 
from the attack of an insect, which, for what reason I know 
not, is called the chinch-bug fly. It appears to be apterous, 
and is said in scent and color to resemble the bed-bug. They 
travel in immense columns from field to field, like locusts, 
destroying everything as they proceed; but their injuries are 
confined to the States south of the 40th degree of north lati- 
tude. From this account," add Kirby and Spence, "the depre- 
dator here noticed should belong to the tribe Geocorisce, Latr. ; 
but it seems very difficult to conceive how an insect that lives 
by suction, and has no mandibles, could destroy these plants 
so totally." I have ascertained, from an examination of living 
specimens, that the chinch-bug is the Lygceus leucopterus, or 
white-winged Lygaeus, described by Mr. Say, in December, 
1831, in a rare little pamphlet on the " Heteropterous Hemiptera 
of North America." It appears, moreover, to belong to the 
modern genus Rhyparochromus. In its perfect state it is not 
apterous, but is provided with wings, and then measures about 



* While this sheet is passing through the press, I have to record the discovery 
of one of these bugs in my own garden, on the 17th of June, 1852. 



HEMIPTERA. 173 

three twentieths of an inch in length. It is readily distinguished 
by its white wing-covers, upon each of which there is a short 
central line and a large marginal oval spot of a black color. 
The rest of the body is black and downy, except the beak, the 
legs, the antennae at base, and the hinder edge of the thorax, 
which are reddish yellow, and the fore part of the thorax, 
which has a grayish lustre. The young and wingless indi- 
viduals are at first bright red, changing with age to brown and 
black, and are always marked with a white band across the 
back. It is a mistake that these insects are confined to the 
States south of the 40th degree ; for I have been favored with 
them by Professor Lathrop, of Beloit College, Wisconsin, and 
by Dr. Le Baron, of Geneva, Illinois. The latter gentleman 
had no difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number without 
going out of his own garden. The eggs of the chinch-bug 
are laid in the ground, in which the young have been found, 
in great abundance, at the depth of an inch or more. They 
make their appearance on wheat about the middle of June, 
and may be seen in their various stages of growth on all kinds 
of grain, on corn, and on herds-grass, during the whole sum- 
mer. Some of them continue alive through the winter in 
their places of concealment. A very good account of these 
destructive bugs, with an enlarged figure, will be found in the 
" Prairie Farmer," for December, 1845. In the same publica- 
tion, for September, 1850, there is an excellent description of 
the chinch-bug, by Dr. Le Baron, who, not being aware that 
it had been previously named by Mr. Say, called it Rhyparo- 
chromus devastator. 

During the summer of 1838, and particularly in the early 
part of the season, which, it will be recollected, was very dry, 
our gardens and fields swarmed with immense numbers of 
little bugs, that attacked almost all kinds of herbaceous plants. 
My attention was first drawn to them in consequence of the 
injury sustained by a few dahlias, marigolds, asters, and bal- 
sams, with which I had stocked a little border around my house. 
In the garden of my friends the Messrs. Hovey, at Cambridge- 
port, I observed, about the same time, that these insects were 
committing sad havoc, and was informed that various means 



174 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

had been tried to destroy or expel them without effect. On 
visiting my potato-patch shortly afterwards, I found the insects 
there also in great numbers on the vines; and, from informa- 
tion worthy of credit, am inclined to believe that these insects 
contributed, quite as much as the dry weather of that season, 
to diminish the produce of the potato fields in this vicinity. 
They principally attacked the buds, terminal shoots, and most 
succulent growing parts of these and other herbaceous plants, 
puncturing them with their beaks, drawing off the sap, and, 
from the effects subsequently visible, apparently poisoning the 
parts attacked. These shortly afterwards withered, turned 
black, and in a few days dried up; or curled, and remained 
permanently stunted in their growth. Early in the morning 
the bugs would be found buried among the little expanding 
leaves of the growing extremities of the plants, at which time 
it was not very difficult to catch them ; but, after being warmed 
by the sun, they became exceedingly active, and, on the ap- 
proach of the fingers, would loose their hold, and either drop 
suddenly or fly away. Sometimes, too, when on the stem of 
a plant, they would dodge round to the other side, and thus 
elude our grasp. In July, 1851, some of these insects were 
sent to me by a gentleman, who brought them from St. Johns- 
bury, Vt, where they were confidently believed to be the 
cause of the potato-rot. 

This kind of bug is the Phytocoris lineolaris, a variety of 
which was first described and figured by Palisot de Beauvois 
under the specific name above given, and was doubtingly 
referred by him to the genus Cor ens; and it was subsequently 
described by Mr. Say, who called it Capsus oblineatus. All 
the insects belonging to the genus Phytocoris* (which means 
plant-bug) are found on plants, and subsist on their juices, 
which they obtain by suction through their sharp beaks. 
They are easily distinguished from other bugs by the follow- 
ing characters. Eyelets wanting; antennae four-jointed, with 

* This new genus, or sub -genus was instituted by Fallen, and is not noticed 
by Latreille and Laporte. It differs from Capsus chiefly in having a smaller 
head, and the thorax wider behind, and narrower before, than in the latter genus. 



HEMIPTERA. 175 

the first and second joints much thicker than the last two, 
which are very slender and threadlike; the head short and 
triangular; the body oval, flattened, and soft; the thorax in 
the form of a broad triangle, with the tip of the anterior angle 
cut off, and the broadest side applied to the base of the wing- 
covers ; the latter, when folded, cover the whole of the abdomen, 
and their thin portions have only one or two little veins ; the 
legs are slender, and the shanks are bristled with little points. 
There are, in Massachusetts, a good many species belonging to 
this genus ; but, in my Catalogue of the insects of this Com- 
monwealth, they are included among the species of Capsus, 
which, indeed, they closely resemble. The Phytocoris Uneola- 
ris, or little-lined plant-bug, measures one fifth of an inch, or 
rather more, in length. It is an exceedingly variable species. 
The males are generally much darker than the females, being 
very deep livid brown or almost black above. The head is 
yellowish, with three narrow longitudinal reddish stripes ; the 
first joint of the antennae, the terminal half of the second, and 
the last two joints are blackish; the beak is more than one 
third the whole length of the body, when folded beneath the 
breast, extends to the middle pair of legs, and is of a yellowish 
color, ringed with black ; the thorax, or that part of the body 
that comes immediately behind the head, is thickly covered 
with punctures, has a yellow margin, and five longitudinal 
yellow lines upon it, which often disappear on the back part; 
the scutel, or escutcheon, a small triangular piece behind the 
thorax, and interposed between the bases of the wing-covers, 
is also margined with yellow, and has a yellow spot upon it 
in the form of the letter V, which is often imperfect, so that 
only three small yellow spots are visible in the place of the 
three extremities of the letter; the thick part of the wing-covers 
is brown, with the outer edge and the longitudinal veins some- 
times pale or yellowish, and behind this thick part there is a 
large yellowish spot, on the posterior tip of which is a small 
black point; the thin or membranous part of the wing-covers 
is shaded with dusky clouds ; the under side of the body is 
marked with a yellowish line or a longitudinal series of yellow 
spots on each side of the middle ; the legs are dirty brownish 



176 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

yellow, the thighs blackish at base, and with two black rings 
near the tip, and the extremities of the feet are blackish. The 
females are most often of a pale olive-green, or of a dirty 
greenish yellow color; the thorax spotted and more or less 
distinctly striped with black, and the thick part of the wing- 
covers also variegated with dusky or brownish lines and clouds. 
In both sexes, however, the yellow V, or the three spots on the 
thorax, and the large yellow spot tipped with black on the 
wing-covers, are conspicuous characters, which readily afford 
the means of identifying the species. I have taken this in- 
sect in the spring, as early as the twentieth of April, and in 
the autumn, as late as the middle of October; from which I 
infer that it passes the winter in the perfect state in some 
place of security. It is most abundant during the months of 
June and July. Specimens have been sent to me from Maine, 
New York, North Carolina, and Alabama, and Mr. Say records 
its occurrence in Pennsylvania, Indiana, the North- West Ter- 
ritory, and Missouri. It seems, therefore, to be very generally 
diffused throughout the Union. 

The history of this species is yet imperfect. We know not 
where and when the eggs are laid ; the young have not been 
observed; and the insects, during the early periods of their 
existence, have escaped notice, and are only known to us after 
they have completed their final transformations. It is possible 
that further information upon the history of these insects may 
afford some aid in devising proper remedies against their ra- 
vages. Upon a limited scale, as on plants growing in our 
gardens, may be tried the effect of sprinkling them with alka- 
line solutions, such as strong soapsuds, or potash-water, or 
with decoctions of tobacco and of walnut leaves, or of dust- 
ing the plants with air-slacked lime or sulphur. But in field 
husbandry such applications would be impracticable. I am 
inclined to believe that nothing will prove so effectual as 
thorough irrigation, or copious and frequent showers of rain, 
which will bring forward the plants with such rapidity, that 
they will soon become so strong and vigorous as to withstand 
the attacks of these little bugs. The great increase of these 
and other noxious insects may fairly be attributed to the 



IIEMIPTERA. 177 

exterminating war which lias wantonly been waged upon our 
insect-eating birds, and we may expect the evil to increase 
unless these little friends of the farmer are protected, or left 
undisturbed to multiply, and follow their natural habits. Mean- 
while, some advantage may be derived from encouraging the 
breed of our domestic fowls. A flock of young chickens or 
turkeys, if suffered to go at large in a garden, while the mother 
is confined within their sight and hearing, under a suitable 
crate or cage, will devour great numbers of destructive insects ; 
and our farmers should be urged to pay more attention than 
heretofore to the rearing of chickens, young turkeys, and 
ducks, with a view to the benefits to be derived from their de- 
struction of insects. 

II. HARVEST-FLIES, &c. {Hemiptera Homoptera.) 

By many entomologists this division is raised to the rank of 
a separate order, under the name of Homoptera; but the in- 
sects arranged in it are, as already stated, much more like the 
true Hemiptera, or bugs, than they are to the insects in any 
other order, which shows the propriety of keeping these two 
divisions together, and that separately they hold only a subor- 
dinate importance compared with other orders. 

The insects belonging to this division are divided by natu- 
ralists into three large groups, or tribes. 

1. Harvest-flies, or Cicadians (Cicadad^e); having short 
antennee, which are awl-shaped or tipped with a little bristle ; 
wings and wing-covers, in both sexes, inclined at the sides of 
the body; three joints to their feet; firm and hard skins; and 
in which the females have a piercer, lodged in a furrow beneath 
the extremity of the body. 

2. Plant-lice (Aphidid.e); having antennae longer than the 
head, and threadlike or tapering from the root to the end; 
wing-covers and wings frequently wanting in the females; 
feet two-jointed; the body very soft, generally furnished with 
two little tubercles at the end; no piercer in the females. 

3. Bark-lice (Coccid.e); having threadlike or tapering an- 
tennae, longer than the head; the males alone provided with 
wings, which lie horizontally on the top of the back ; no beak 

23 



178 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

in tliis sex; females wingless, but furnished with beaks; the 
feet with only one joint, terminated by a single claw; skins 
tolerably firm and hard ; two slender threads at the extremity 
of the body ; no piercer in the females. 

1. Harvest-flies. {Cicadadcc.) 
The most remarkable insects in this group are those to 
which naturalists now a})ply the name of Cicada. They are 
readily distinguished by their broad heads, the large and very 
convex eyes on each side, and the three eyelets on the crown; 
by the transparent and veined wing-covers and wings ; and by 
the elevation on the back part of the thorax in the form of 
the letter X. The males have a peculiar organization which 
enables them to emit an excessively loud buzzing kind of 
sound, which, in some species, may be heard at the distance 
of a mile; and the females are furnished with a curiously 
contrived piercer, for perforating the limbs of trees, in which 
they place their eggs. Without attempting a detailed descrip- 
tion of the complicated mechanism of these parts, which could 
only be made intelligible by means of figures, I shall merely 
give a brief and general account of them, which may suffice 
for the present occasion. The musical instruments of the 
male consist of a pair of kettle-drums, one on each side of 
the body, and these, in the seventeen-year Cicada (or locust as 
it is generally but improperly called in America), are plainly 
to be seen just behind the wings. These drums are formed of 
convex pieces of parchment, gathered into numerous fine plaits, 
and, in the species above named, are lodged in cavities on the 
sides of the body behind the thorax. They are not played 
upon with sticks, but by muscles or cords fastened to the 
inside of the drums. When these muscles contract and re- 
lax, which they do with great rapidity, the drum-heads are 
alternately tightened and loosened, recovering their natural 
convexity by their own elasticity. The effect of this rapid 
alternate tension and relaxation is the production of a rattling 
sound, like that caused by a succession of quick pressures 
upon a slightly convex and elastic piece of tin plate. Certain 
cavities within the body of the insect, which may be seen on 



IIEMIPTERA. 179 

raising two large valves beneath the belly, and which are 
separated from each other by thin partitions having the trans- 
parency and brilliancy of nnica or of thin and highly poli«hod 
glass, tend to increase the vibrations of the sounds, and add 
greatly to their intensity. In most of our species of Cicada^ 
the drums are not visible on the outside of the body, but are 
covered by convex triangular pieces on each side of the first 
ring behind the thorax, which must be cut away in order to 
expose them. On raising the large valves of the belly, how- 
ever, there is seen, close to each side of the body, a little 
opening, like a pocket, in which the drum is lodged, and from 
which the sound issues when the insect opens the valves. 
The hinder extremity of the body of the female is conical, 
and the underside has a longitudinal channel for the reception 
of the piercer, which is furthermore protected by four short 
grooved pieces fixed in the sides of the channel. The piercer 
itself consists of three parts in close contact with each other; 
namely, two outer ones grooved on the inside and enlarged at 
the tips, which externally are beset with small teeth like a 
saw, and a central, spear-pointed borer, which plays between 
the other two. Thus this instrument has the power and does 
the work both of an awl and of a double-edged saw, or rather 
of two key-hole saws cutting opposite to each other. No 
species of Cicada possesses the power of leaping. The legs 
are rather short, and the anterior thighs are armed beneath 
with two stout spines. 

The duration of life in winged insects is comparatively very 
short, seldom exceeding two or three weeks in extent, and in 
many is limited to the same number of days or hours. To 
increase and multiply is their principal business in this period 
of their existence, if not the only one, and the natural term of 
their life ends when this is accomplished. In their previous 
states, however, they often pass a much longer time, the length 
of which depends, in great measure, upon the nature and 
abundance of their food. Thus maggots, which subsist upon 
decaying animal or vegetable matter, come more quickly to 
their growth than caterpillars and other insects which devour 
living plants; the former are appointed to remove an offensive 



180 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

nuisance, and do their work quickly; the latter have a longer 
time assigned to them, corresponding in some degree to the 
progress or continuance of vegetation. The facilities afforded 
for obtaining food influence the duration of life; hence those 
grubs that live in the solid trunks of perennial trees, which 
they are obliged to perforate in order to obtain nourishment, 
are longer lived than those that devour the tender parts of 
leaves and fruits, which last only for a season, and require no 
laborious efforts to be prepared for food. The harvest-flies 
continue only a few weeks after their final transformation, and 
their only nourishment consists of vegetable juices, which they 
obtain by piercing the bark and leaves of plants with their 
beaks; and during this period they lay their eggs, and then 
perish. They are, however, amply compensated for the short- 
ness of their life in the winged state by the length of their 
previous existence, during which they are wingless and grub- 
like in form, and live under grovmd, where they obtain their 
food only by much labor in perforating the soil among the 
roots of plants, the juices of which they imbibe by suction. 
To meet the difficulties of their situation and the precarious 
supply of their food, for which they have to grope in the dark 
in their subterranean retreats, a remarkable longevity is as- 
signed to them; and one species has obtained the name of 
Cicada septendecim, on account of its life being protracted to 
the period of seventeen years. 

This insect has been observed in the southeastern parts of 
Massachusetts, and in the valley of the Connecticut river, as 
far north at least as Hadley; but does not seem to have ex- 
tended to other parts of the State. The earliest account that 
we have of it is contained in Morton's " Memorial," wherein 
it is stated that "there was a numerous company of flies, 
which were like for bigness unto wasps or bumblebees," which 
appeared in Plymouth in the spring of 1633. " They came 
out of little holes in the ground, and did eat up the green 
things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made the 
woods ring of them, and ready to deafen the hearers." Judge 
Davis, in the Appendix to his edition of Secretary Morton's 
" Memorial," states that these insects appeared in Plymouth, 



HEMIPTERA. . 181 

Sandwich, and Falmouth, in the year 1804; but, if the exact 
period of seventeen years had been observed, they should have 
returned in 1803. Circumstances may occasionally retard or 
accelerate their progress to maturity, but the usual interval is 
certainly seventeen years, according to the observations and' 
testimony of many persons of undoubted veracity. Their 
occurrence in large swarms at long intervals, like that of the 
migratory locusts of the east, probably suggested the name of 
locusts, which has commonly been applied to them in this 
country. The following extract from a letter* from the late 
Rev. Ezra Shaw Goodwin, of Sandwich, contains some in- 
teresting particulars which this gentleman had the kindness to 
communicate to me. 

" I have not been unmindful of what you said to me respect- 
ing the locust insects, nor of the promise I made you with 
respect to them. They appeared in this town in the year 
1821, in the middle of June. Their last previous appearance 
was in 1804, and their last, previous to that, was in 1787. I 
ascertained these periods from the statements of individuals, 
who remembered that it was locust-year, when this or that 
event occurred; as, when this one was married, or that one's 
eldest son was born ; events, the date of which the husband 
or the parent would not be very likely to forget. The remem- 
brance of all, though fixed by different events, concurred in 
establishing the same years for the appearance of the locusts. 

"I first took notice of them in 1821, on the 17th of June, 
from their noise. They appeared chiefly in the forests, or in 
thickets of forest-trees, principally oak. Their nearest distance 
from my dwelling cannot be far from a mile; yet, at a still 
hour, their music was distinctly heard there. On going to visit 
them, I found the oak-trees and bushes swarming with them 
in a winged state. They came up out of the ground a creep- 
ing insect. Very soon, after they had arrived on the surface 
of the earth, the skin, or rather the shell of the insect, burst 
upon the back, and the winged insect came forth, leaving the 
skin or shell upon the earth, in a perfect form, and uninjured, 
saving at the rupture on the back; showing an entire with- 

* Dated Oct. 19, 1832. 



182 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

drawing of the living animal, as much so as does the snake's 
skin after he has left it. Thus these skins lay in immense 
numbers under the trees, entirely empty, and perfect in shape. 
The winged insects did not, so far as I could ascertain, eat any 
Ihing. Motion and propagation appeared to be the whole 
object of their existence. They continued about four or five 
weeks, and then died." Previous to this event "the females 
laid their eggs in the tender parts of oak branches, near the 
extremities, making a longitudinal furrow, and depositing rows 
of eggs therein. They ihen sawed the branch partly off below 
the eggs, so that the wind could twist off the extreme part 
containing the eggs, and let it fall to the ground. In this way 
they injured the trees ex-tensively. The forest had a gloomy 
appearance from the niimber of these extremities partially 
twisted off, and hanging, with their dead leaves, ready to fall. 
In a few weeks they were nearly all separated from the trees, 
and carried their vital burdens to the earth, which was, cer- 
tainly, well seeded for a harvest in 1838. I know of no other 
damage which they did." " I believe the locusts appear in 
different places, in different years, and understand that the 
locust-year, in some places not far distant, is different from 
their year in this town." This letter was accompanied by 
specimens of the insects, in their various states, obtained and 
preserved by Mr. Goodwin. 

The writer of an article in the "Boston Magazine" for 
November, 1784, observes that Mr. Morton must have been 
mistaken as to these insects, in saying that they eat up the 
green things, which, from the structure of their mouths, we 
now know could not have been the case. This writer also 
records the appearance of these insects in 1784, and the place 
of his residence, in which this occurred, is believed to have 
been in the County of Bristol; which coincides with the 
remark made by Mr. Goodwin, that in different places they 
appear in different years. This remark is furthermore con- 
firmed by the observations of various persons* who have 

* Among the authorities which I have consulted upon the history of the seven- 
teen-year Cicada, may be mentioned the Rev. Andrew Sandel, of Philadelphia, 
an abstract of whose account is given in the 4th vol. of Mitchill and Miller's 



HEMIPTERA. 183 

published accounts of the occurrence of these insects in the 
JVIiddle, Southern, and Western States, where, at reguhir in- 
tervals of seventeen years, varying according to the locality, 
they are seen even in greater abundance than in Massachusetts. 
The following dates and places of their ascent are given in 
Professor Potter's "Notes on the Locusta decejn Septinia" 
{Cicada 'septendccim) : Maryland, 1749, 17fi6, 1783, 1800, 1817, 
1834; South Carolina and Georgia, 1817, 1834; Middlesex 
County, New Jersey, 1826; Louisiana, 1829; Gallipolis, Ohio, 
1821, and Muskingum, 1829; western parts of Pennsylvania, 
1832; Fall River, Massachusetts, 1834. To these may be 
added from other sources, Pennsylvania, 1715, 1766, 1783, 
1800, 1817;* Marietta, Ohio, 1795, 1812; Plymouth, 1633, 
1804; Sandwich, 1787, 1804,1821; Hadley, 1818; Westfield, 
1835; North Haven, Conn., 1724, 1741, 1758, 1792, 1809, 1826, 
1843; Genesee County, New York, 1832; Martha's Vineyard, 
1833. From information derived from various sources it ap- 
pears that this species is widely spread over the country, with 
the exception only of the northern parts of New England; 
and that it may be seen in some portion of the United States 
almost every year; and, although certain disturbing causes 
may occasionally accelerate or retard the return of individuals, 
or even of an entire swarm, in any one place, yet the lineal 
descendants of one particular family or swarm will ordinarily 

•' Medical llcpository," p. 71 ; the " Columbian Magazine," vol. 1, pages 86 and 
108; Mr. Moses Baitram's account in Dodslcy's "Annual Register" for 1767, 
p. 103; Dr. McMurtrie, in the Sth vol. of the " Encyclopcedia Americana," p. 
43 ; Dr. S. P. Ilildrcth's interesting account in the 10th vol. of Silliman's 
"American Journal of Science," p. 327; and a pamphlet entitled "Notes on 
the Locusta," &c., with which I have been favored by the author, Professor 
Nathaniel Potter, of Baltimore. This last work is exclusively devoted to the 
history of tliis insect, and has afforded mc much valuable information. From 
these various- sources I have selected the principal facts which follow. Mr. 
CoUins's "Observations on the Cicada of North America," published ia the 
" Philosophical Transactions" of London, vol. 54, p. 65, with a plate, probably 
refer to the soventeen-ycar Cicada, but the insects figured are not the same, and 
seem to be the Cicada pruiiiosa of Mr. Say. 

* A writer in the "United States Gazette" records the appearance of these 
insects in great numbers in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on the 2o(h of May, at 
four successive periods. 



184 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

come forth only once in seventeen years, while those of other 
swarms may appear, after equally regular intervals, in the 
intervening period, in other places. 

The seventeen-year Cicada ( Cicada septendecim of Linnaeus), 
in the winged state, is of a black color, with transparent wings 
and wing-covers, the thick anterior edge and larger veins of 
which are orange-red, and near the tips of the latter there is a 
dusky zigzag line in the form of the letter W; the eyes when 
living are also red ; the rings of the body are edged with dull 
orange; and the legs are of the same color. The wings ex- 
pand from 2|- to 3^ inches. 

In those parts of Massachusetts which are subject to the 
visitation of this Cicada, it may be seen in forests of oak about 
the middle of June. Here such immense numbers are some- 
times congregated, as to bend and even break down the limbs 
of the trees by their weight, and the woods resound with the 
din of their discordant drums from morning to evening. After 
pairing, the females proceed to prepare a nest for the reception 
of their eggs. They select, for this purpose, branches of a 
moderate size, which they clasp on both sides with their legs, 
and then bending down the piercer at an angle of about forty- 
five degrees, they repeatedly thrust it obliquely into the bark 
and wood in the direction of the fibres, at the same time put- 
ting in motion the lateral saws, and in this way detach little 
splinters of the wood at one end, so as to form a kind of fibrous 
lid or cover to the perforation. The hole is bored obliquely to 
the pith, and is gradually enlarged by a repetition of the same 
operation, till a longitudinal fissure is formed of sufficient 
extent to receive from ten to twenty eggs. The side-pieces of 
the piercer serve as a groove to convey the eggs into the nest, 
where they are deposited in pairs, side by side, but separated 
from each other by a portion of woody fibre, and they are 
implanted into the limb somewhat obliquely, so that one end 
points upwards. When two eggs have been thus placed, the 
insect withdraws the piercer for a moment, and then inserts it 
again and drops two more eggs in a line with the first, and 
repeats the operation till she has filled the fissure from one end 
to the other, upon which she removes to a little distance, and 



IIEMIPTERA. 185 

begins to make another nest to contain two more rows of eggs. 
She is about fifteen minutes in preparing a single nest and 
filling it with eggs ; but it is not unusual for her to make 
fifteen or twenty fissures in the same limb ; and one observer 
counted fifty nests extending along in a line, eacli containing 
fifteen or twenty eggs in two rows, and all of them apparently 
the work of one insect.* After one limb is thus sufiicienily 
stocked, the Cicada goes to another, and passes from limb to 
limb and from tree to tree, till her store, which consists of four 
or five hundred eggs, is exhausted. At length she becomes so 
weak by her incessant labors to provide for a succession of 
her kind, as to falter and fall in attempting to lly, and soon 
dies. 

Although the Cicadas abound most upon the oak, they 
resort occasionally to other forest-trees, and even to shrubs, 
when impelled by the necessity for depositing their eggs, and 
not unfrequently commit them to fruit-trees, when the latter 
are in their vicinity. Indeed there seem to be no trees or 
shrubs that are exempted from their attacks, except those of 
the pine and fir tribes, and of these even the white cedar is 
sometimes invaded by them. The punctured limbs languish 
and die soon after the eggs which are placed in them are 
hatched ; they are broken by the winds or by their own weight, 
and either remain hanging by the bark alone, or fall with their 
withered foliage to the ground. In this way orchards have 
suffered severely in consequence of the injurious punctures of 
these insects. 

The eggs are one twelfth of an inch long, and one sixteenth 
of an inch through the middle, but taper at each end to an 
obtuse point, and are of a pearl-white color. The shell is so 
thin and delicate that the form of the included insect can be 
seen before the egg is hatched, which occurs, according to Dr. 
Potter, in fifty-two days after it is laid, but Miss Morris says 
in forty-two days, and other persons say in fourteen days. 

The young insect when it bursts the shell is one sixteenth of 

* See also my communication in Downing's Horticulturist, Vol. Ill, p. 278, 
Dec, 1848. 

24 



186 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

an inch long, and is of a yellowish white color, except the eyes 
and the claws of the fore legs, which are reddish; and it is 
covered with little hairs. In form it is somewhat grub-like, 
being longer in proportion than the parent insect, and is fur- 
nished with six legs, the first pair of which are very large, 
shaped almost like lobster-claws, and armed with strong spines 
beneath. On the shoulders are little prominences in the place 
of wings ; and under the breast is a long beak for suction. 
These little creatures when liberated from the shell are very 
lively, and their movements are nearly as quick as those of 
ants. After a few moments their instincts prompt them to get 
to the ground, but in order to reach it they do not descend the 
body of the tree, neither do they cast off themselves precipi- 
tately ; but running to the side of the limb, they deliberately 
loosen their hold, and fall to the earth. It seems, then, that 
they are not borne to the ground in the egg state by the limbs 
in which their nests are contained, but spontaneously make 
the perilous descent, immediately after they are hatched, with- 
out any clue, like that of the canker-worm, to carry them in 
safety through the air and break the force of their fall. The 
instinct which impels them thus fearlessly to precipitate them- 
selves from the trees, from heights of which they can have 
formed no conception, without any experience or knowledge 
of the result of their adventurous leap, is still more remarkable 
than that which carries the gosling to the water as soon as it 
is hatched. In those actions, that are the result of foresight, 
of memory, or of experience, animals are controlled by their 
own reason, as in those to which they are led by the use of 
their ordinary senses, or by the indulgence of their common 
appetites, they may be said to be governed by the laws of their 
organization ; but in such as arise from special and extraordi- 
nary instincts, we see the most striking proofs of that creative 
wisdom which has implanted in them an unerring guide, where 
reason, the senses, and the appetites would fail to direct them. 
The manner of the young cicadas' descent, so different from 
that of other insects, and seeming to require a special instinct 
to this end, would be considered incredible perhaps, if it had 
not been ascertained and repeatedly confirmed by persons who 



HEMIPTERA. 187 

have witnessed the proceeding. On reaching the ground the 
insects immediately bury themselves in the soil, burrowing by 
means of their broad and strong fore feet, which, like those of 
the mole, are admirably adapted for digging. In their descent 
into the earth they seem to follow the roots of plants, and are 
subsequently found attached to those which are most tender 
and succulent, perforating them with their beaks, and thus 
imbibing the vegetable juices which constitute their sole nour- 
ishment. 

Miss Margaretta H. Morris, who attributes the decline of 
the pear-tree and the failure of its fruit to depredations of the 
young Cicadas on its roots, has given interesting accounts of 
her observations upon these insects. On removing the earth 
from " a pear-tree that had been declining for years, without 
any apparent cause," she "found the larvae of the Cicada in 
countless numbers clinging to the roots of the tree, with their 
suckers piercing the bark, and so deep and firmly placed, that 
they remained hanging for half an hour after being removed 
from the earth. From a root a yard long, and about an inch 
in diameter, she gathered twenty-three larvae; they were of 
various sizes, from a quarter of an inch to an inch in length. 
They were on all the roots that grew deeper than sLx inches 
below the surface. The roots were unhealthy, and bore the 
appearance of external injury from small punctures. On 
removing the outer coat of bark, this appearance increased, 
leaving no doubt as to the cause of the disease." * 

The grubs do not appear ordinarily to descend very deeply 
into the ground, but remain where roots are most abundant; 
and it is probable that the accounts of their having been dis- 
covered ten or twelve feet from the top of the ground have 
been founded on some mistake, or the occurrence of the insects 
at such a depth may have been the result of accident. The 
only alteration to which the insects are subject, during the 
long period of their subterranean confinement, is an increase 
of size, and the more complete development of the four small 



* Proceedings of the Academy ol' Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Nov. and 
Dec, 1S46 ; and Downing's Horticulturist, Vol. II. p. 16. July, 1847. 



188 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

scale-like prominences on their backs, which represent and 
actually contain their future wings. 

As the time of their transformation approaches, they gradu- 
ally ascend towards the surface, making in their progress 
cylindrical passages, oftentimes very circuitous, and seldom 
exactly perpendicular, the sides of which, according to Dr. 
Potter, are firmly cemented and varnished so as to be water- 
proof. These burrows are about five eighths of an inch in 
diameter, are filled below with earthy matter removed by the 
insect in its progress, and can be traced by the color and com- 
pactness of their contents to the depth of from one to two 
feet, according to the nature of the soil; but the upper portion 
to the extent of six or eight inches is empty, and serves as a 
habitation for the insect till the period for its exit arrives. 
Here it remains during several days, ascending to the top of 
the hole in fine weather for the benefit of the warmth and the 
air, and occasionally peeping forth apparently to reconnoitre, 
but descending again on the occurrence of cold or wet weather. 
During their temporary residence in these burrows near the 
sm-face, the Cicada grubs, or more properly pupae, for such 
they are to be considered at this period, though they still re- 
tain something of a grub-like form, acquire strength for further 
efforts by exposure to the light and air, and seem then only to 
wait for a favorable moment to issue from their subterranean 
retreats. When at length this arrives, they issue from the 
ground in great numbers in the night, crawl up the trunks of 
trees, or upon any other object in their vicinity to which they 
can fasten themselves securely by their claws. After having 
rested awhile they prepare to cast ofi' their skins, which, in 
the meantime, have become dry and of an amber color. By 
repeated exertions a longitudinal rent is made in the skin of 
the back, and through this the included Cicada pushes its 
head and body, and withdraws its wings and limbs from their 
separate cases, and, crawling to a little distance, it leaves its 
empty pupa-skin, apparently entire, still fastened to the tree... 
At first the wing-covers and wings are very small and opake, 
but, being perfectly soft and flexible, they soon stretch out to 
their full dimensions, and in the course of a few hours the 



HEMIPTERA. 189 

superfluous moisture of the body evaporates, and the insect 
becomes strong enough to fly. 

During several successive nights the pupas continue to issue 
from the earth; above fifteen hundred have been found to 
arise beneath a single apple tree, and in some places the whole 
surface of the soil, by their successive operations, has appeared 
as full of holes as a honeycomb. In Alabama the species 
under consideration leaves the ground in February and March, 
in Maryland and Pennsylvania in May, but in Massachusetts 
it does not come forth till near the middle of June. Within 
about a fortnight after their final transformation they begin to 
lay their eggs, and in the space of six weeks the whole gener- 
ation becomes extinct. 

Fortvinately these insects are appointed to return only at 
periods so distant that vegetation often has time to recover 
from the injury inflicted by them; but were they to appear at 
shorter intervals, our forest and fruit trees would soon be 
entirely destroyed by them. They are moreover subject to 
many accidents, and have many enemies, which contribute to 
diminish their numbers. Their eggs are eaten by birds; the 
young, when they first issue from the shell, are preyed upon 
by ants, which mount the trees to feed upon them, or destroy 
them when they are about to enter the ground. Blackbirds 
eat them when turned up by the plough in fields, and hogs 
are excessively fond of them, and, when suffered to go at large 
in the woods, root them up, and devour immense numbers 
just before the arrival of the period of their final transforma- 
tion, when they are lodged immediately under the surface of 
the soil. It is stated that many perish in the egg state, by the 
rapid growth of the bark and wood, which closes the perfora- 
tions and buries the eggs before they have hatched ; and many, 
without doubt, are killed by their perilous descent from the 
trees. 

There are several other harvest-flies in the United States, 
the males of which are musical ; but their drums are concealed 
within little cavities in the sides of the first abdominal ring. 
One of these is found in Massachusetts, and, though it never 
appears in such great numbers as the preceding species, it is 



190 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

more common or more generally met with throughout the 
State. It may be called the dog-day harvest-fly, or Cicada 
canicularis, from the circumstance of its invariably appearing 
with the beginning of dog-days. During many years in suc- 
cession, with only one or two exceptions, I have heard this 
insect, on the twenty-fifth of July, for the first time in the 
season, druinming in the trees, on some part of the day be- 
tween the hours of ten in the morning and two in the after- 
noon. It is true that all do not muster on the same day; for 
at first they are few in number, and scattered at great distances 
from each other; new-comers, however, are added from day to 
day, till, in a short time, almost every tree seems to have its 
musician, and the rolling of their drums may be heard in every 
direction. This circumstance, however, does not render it any 
the less remarkable that the first of the band should keep their 
appointed time with such extreme regularity. The dog-day 
harvest-fly measures about one inch and six tenths from the 
front to the tips of the wing-covers, which, when spread, ex- 
pand about three inches. Its body is black on the upper side ; 
the under side of the head, the breast, and the sides of the 
belly are covered with a white substance resembling flour; 
the top of the head and the thorax are ornamented with olive- 
green lines and characters, one of which, in the shape of the 
letter W, is very conspicuous ; the legs, and the front edge and 
principal veins of the wing-covers and of the wings are also 
green, and there is a dusky zigzag spot on the little cross-veins 
near the tip of the wing-covers; and the valves beneath the 
body of the males are wider than long. This species has 
heretofore been mistaken for the Cicada pruinosa, or frosted 
harvest-fly, described by Mr. Say, which is found in the Middle 
States, measures two inches to the tips of the wing-covers, has 
a white spot each side of the base of the abdomen, a second 
on the middle of the sides, and a third near to the tip, and has 
the valves of the males longer than wide.* I am not aware 

* The form and proportions of the abdominal valves have decided me to 
eeparate the canictdaris from Mr. Say's pruinosa, although, with the exception 
of their difference in size, they present no other constant characters which will 
invariably serve to distinguish them from each other. 



HEMIPTERA. 191 

that the females of the dog-day harvest-fly prefer to lay their 
eggs in one rather than in another kind of tree; for I have 
taken the pupse emerging from the ground beneath cherry, 
maple, and elm trees, and it is probable that they could not 
have travelled far from the trees upon which, when young, they 
were hatched, and upon the trunks of which they finally leave 
their vacant shells. These have much the same form and 
appearance as the pupa-shells of the seventeen-year harvest- 
fly, but are considerably larger. Some individuals of this 
species continue with us as late as the end of September. As 
they are not very numerous, the injury sustained by the trees 
from their punctures is comparatively small. 

The other harvest-flies of this country have only t^vo eyelets, 
and are not furnished with musical instruments; but they 
enjoy the faculty of leaping, which the Cicadas do not. This 
faculty does not, as in the grasshoppers and other leaping 
insects, result from an enlargement of their hindmost thighs, 
which do not difler much in thickness from the others ; but is 
owing to the length of their hindmost shanks, or to the bristles 
and spines with which these parts are clothed and tipped. 
These spines serve to fix the hind legs securely to the surface, 
and, when the insect suddenly unbends its legs, its body is 
launched forward in the air. Some of these harvest-flies, 
when assisted by their wings, will leap to the distance of five 
or six feet, which is more than two hundred and fifty times 
their own length; in the same proportion, "a man of ordinary 
stature should be able at once to vault through the air to the 
distance of a quarter of a mile." Some of these leaping har- 
vest-flies have the face nearly vertical, and the thorax very large, 
tapering to a point behind, covering the whole of the upper side 
of the body, and overtopping even the head, which is not visible 
from above. These belong chiefly to the genus Membracis, to 
which allusion has already been made ; and, as they are found 
mostly on the limbs of trees and shrubs, they may receive the 
name of tree-hoppers.* In others the face slopes downwards 



* Mr. Rennie, in the "Library of Entertaining Knowledge," has misapplied 
this name to the Cicadas, -which do not leap. 



192 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

towards the breast, the thorax is of moderate size, and does not 
extend much, if at all, beyond the base of the wing-covers, and 
does not conceal the head when viewed from above. Some of 
the insects, with this small-sized thorax, are familiarly called, 
in English works, cuckoo-spit and frog-hoppers, and to others 
may be applied the name of leaf-hoppers, because they live 
mostly on the leaves of plants. 

The thorax differs very much in shape in different kinds of 
tree-hoppers (Membracidid.te), and the variations of this part 
are productive of many odd forms among these insects, and 
particularly in foreign species. Among the species inhabiting 
Massachusetts, there are some in which the thorax forms a 
thin and high arched crest over the body, as in Membracis 
camelus of Fabricius, and the vau of my Catalogue. To these 
the name of Membracis, which means sharp-edged, is most 
applicable. In other species [M. emarginata and sinuata of 
Fabricius, and concava of Say) the crest of the thorax is deeply 
notched on the top. In others the whole of the thorax is not 
elevated longitudinally in the middle, but only in some part; 
thus M. Ampelopsidis has an oblong square crest on the middle 
of the thorax; M. bimaculata of Fabricius and univittata of my 
Catalogue have a thin horn-like projection, blunt, however, at 
the end, extending obliquely forwards and upwards from the 
fore part of the thorax ; and M. binotata and latipes of Say 
have a similarly situated horn, narrower however, and curved, 
so as to give to the insects, when viewed sidewise, the shape 
of a bird; and, lastly, in M. bubalus of Fabricius, diceros of 
Say, and taurina of my Catalogue, the ridge of the thorax, 
viewed from above, has somewhat the shape of the letter T, 
becoming broad at the fore part, and extending outwards on 
each side like a pair of short thick horns, which gave rise to 
the foregoing specific names, meaning buffalo, two-horned, and 
kine-like. 

The habits of some of the tree-hoppers are presumed to be 
much the same as those of the musical harvest-flies, for they 
are found on the limbs of trees, where they deposit their eggs, 
only during the adult state, and probably pass the early period 
of their existence in the ground. Others, however, are known 



HEMIPTERA. 193 

to live and undergo all their changes on the stems of plants. 
Among the former is our largest native species, the two-spotted 
tree-hopper, or Membracis himaculata* of Fabricius, which may 
be found in great abundance on the limbs of the locust-tree 
[Robinia pseudacacia) during the months of September and 
October. These, as well as other tree-hoppers, show but little 
activity when undisturbed, remaining without motion for hours 
together on the limbs of the trees ; but, on the approach of the 
fingers, they leap vigorously, and, spreading their wings at the 
same time, fly to another limb and settle there, in the same 
position as before. They never sit across the limbs, but always 
in the direction of their length, with the head or fore part of 
the body towards the extremity of the branches. On account 
of their peculiar form, which is that of a thick cone with a 
very oblique direction, their dark color, and their fixed posture 
while perching, they would readily be mistaken for the thorns 
of the tree, a circumstance undoubtedly intended for their 
preservation. Other instances have been mentioned displaying 
proofs of equal wisdom in the formation of insects. Thus, in 
the leaf-insects, grasshoppers, and walking sticks, which live in 
trees, the latter exactly simulating a little twig in appearance, 
and the others having the form and color of leaves, their re- 
semblance to the objects among which they have been destined 
to live, has doubtless been given to them with the express 
design of screening them from their enemies of the feathered 
race. Many other examples of the same kind might be men- 
tioned, did time and the limits of my subject warrant; but 
these alone suffice to show that special provision has been 
wisely made in the construction of certain defenceless animals 
with a view to secure them from observation. Surely insects, 
the most despised of God's creation, are not unworthy our 
study, since they are objects of His care and subjects of a 
special providence. But to return to our locust tree-hopper. 



* Fabricius describes the male only under this name ; the female is his Metn- 
bracis acuminata. This species belongs to Professor Germar's new genus Hemi- 
ptycha, 

25 



194 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

which remains to be described; — it measures about half an 
inch from the tip of the horn to the end of the body; the male 
is blackish above, with a long yellow spot on each side of the 
back ; and the female is ash-colored, and without spots. While 
on the trees, these insects, though perfectly still, are not unem- 
ployed; but puncture the bark with their sharp and slender 
beaks, and imbibe the sap for nourishment. The female also 
appears to commit her eggs to the protection of the tree, being 
furnished with a piercer beneath the extremity of her body, 
with which to make suitable perforations in the branches. As 
I have never seen the young on these trees, I presume that, as 
soon as they are hatched, they make their way to the ground, 
and remain under the surface of the soil, sucking the sap from 
the roots of plants, until they are about to enter upon their 
last period of existence, when they crawl up the trunks of the 
trees, throw off' their coats, and appear in the perfect or winged 
state. From the great numbers of these tree-hoppers which 
exist in certain seasons, the locust-trees undoubtedly suffer 
much, not only in consequence of the quantity of sap abstracted 
from their branches, but from the numerous punctures made 
by the insects in obtaining it and in laying their eggs. 

The oak-tree is attacked by another species, the white-lined 
tree-hopper [31. vnivUtata), which may be found upon it during 
the month of July. It is about four tenths of an inch in length ; 
the thorax is brown, has a short obtuse horn extending ob- 
liquely upwards from its fore part, and there is a white line on 
the back, extending from the top of the horn to the hinder 
extremity. 

The common creeper [Ampelopsis quinquefolia) is inhabited 
by a tree-hopper, which has an oblong square and thin eleva- 
tion or crest on the middle of the thorax. Its body is usually 
of a reddish ash-color, and the thorax is ornamented with three 
reddish brown bands, one of which is above the head and ex- 
tends transversely between the lateral projecting angles of the 
thorax, the second is a short and oblique line on each side of 
the front part of the crest, and the third is also oblique, and 
begins on the outer edge of the thorax, and passes obliquely 



HEMIPTERA. 195 

forwards on each side to the top of the hind part of the crest. 
This species may be called Membracis Ampelopsidis* from the 
plant on which it is found in the perfect state. The young 
appear to live in the earth till they are fully grown and have 
acquired the rudiments of wing-covers and wings, or have 
become pupae, after which they are seen ascending the stems 
of the creeper, on which they change their skins for the last 
time. This occurs from the middle to the end of June, 

There is a little tree-hopper, which is found during the 
months of July and August on the wax-work, or Celastrus 
scandens, accompanied usually by its young. When fully 
grown it is nearly three tenths of an inch in length, including 
the horn of the thorax ; is of a dusky brown color, with two 
yellowish spots on the ridge of the back; and the first four 
shanks are exceedingly broad and flat. It is the two-spotted 
tree-hopper, or Membracis binotata of Say. When seen side- 
wise it presents a profile much like that of a bird, the head and 
neck of which are represented by the curved projecting horn of 
the thorax ; and a group of these little tree-hoppers, of various 
sizes, clustered together on a stem of the wax-work, may be 
likened to a flock of old and young partridges. They appear 
to pass through all their transformations on the plant, are fond 
of society, and sit close together, with their heads all in the 
same direction. 

Tree-hoppers are often surrounded by ants, for the sake of 
their castings, and for the sap which oozes from the punctures 
made by the former, of which the ants are very fond. Those 
kinds, that live on the stems of plants from the time when 
they are hatched till they are fully grown, are very closely 
attended by ants; and, as from their constant sucking the 
young become often wet, their careful attendants, the ants, 
find regular employment in wiping them clean and dry with 
their antennge and tongues. 

The remaining Homopterous insects have a thorax of mod- 
erate size, not tapering to a point behind, and not covering 
the whole body as in the preceding species. Their heads are 

* It is the Membracis Cissi of my Catalogue. 



196 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

visible from above, and the face slopes downwards towards 
the breast. 

Here may be arranged the singular insects called frog- 
hoppers (CERcopiDiDiE), which pass their whole lives on plants, 
on the stems of which their eggs are laid in the autumn. The 
following summer they are hatched, and the young immedi- 
ately perforate the bark with their beaks, and begin to imbibe 
the sap. They take in such quantities of this, that it oozes 
out of their bodies continually, in the form of little bubbles, 
which soon completely cover up the insects. They thus re- 
main entirely buried and concealed in large masses of foam, 
until they have completed their final transformation, on which 
account the names of cuckoo-spittle, frog-spittle, and frog- 
hoppers have been applied to them. We have several species 
of these frog-hoppers in Massachusetts, and the spittle, with 
which they are sheltered from the sun and air, may be seen in 
great abundance, during the summer, on the stems of our 
alders and willows. In the perfect state they are not thus 
protected, but are found on the plants, in the latter part of 
summer, fully grown and preparing to lay their eggs. In this 
state they possess the power of leaping in a still more remark- 
able degree than the tree-hoppers; and, for this purpose, the 
tips of their hind shanks are surrounded with little spines, and 
the first two joints of their feet have a similar coronet of spines 
at their extremities. Their thorax narrows a little behind, and 
projects somewhat between the bases of the wing-covers; their 
bodies are rather short, and their wing-covers are almost hori- 
zontal and quite broad across the middle, which, with the 
shortness of their legs, gives them a squat appearance.* 

The leaf-hoppers (Tettigoniad.e) leap almost as well as 
the spittle-insects just mentioned; but their hind legs are 
longer, are not surrounded with coronets of short spines, but 
are three sided, and generally fringed on two of their edges 

* The following species are found in Massachusetts, namely : Cercopis igni- 
pecta of my Catalogue, and the parallela, quadrangular is, and obtusa, of Say. 
The last three belong to Germar's genus Ajjhrophora, which moans spume- 
bearer. Cercopis, which may be translated impostor, was applied by the Greeks 
to a small Cicada. 



HEMIPTERA. 197 

with numerous long and slender spines, which contribute, like 
the coronets of the frog-hoppers, to fix their shanks firmly 
when they are about to leap. The leaf-hoppers have been 
divided, by Professor Germar and other entomologists, into 
many genera, according to the structure of their legs, the 
situation of the eyelets, and the form of the head ; but we may 
retain them, without inconvenience, in the genus Tettigvuia, 
proposed for them by Geoffroy, or rather adopted from the 
ancient Greeks, who gave this name to the small kinds of 
harvest-flies, calling the larger ones Tetlix. The Tettigonians, 
or leaf-hoppers, have the head and thorax somewhat like those 
of frog-hoppers, but their bodies are, in general, proportionally 
longer, not so broad across the middle, and not so much flat- 
tened. The head, as seen from above, is broad, and either 
crescent-shaped, semicircular, or even extended forwards in the 
form of a triangle; its upper side is more or less flattened, and 
the face slopes downwards towards the breast at an acute 
angle with the top of the head. The thorax is wider than 
long, with the front margin curving forwards, the hind margin 
transverse, or not extended between the wing-covers, which 
space is filled by a pretty large triangular scutel or escutcheon. 
The wing-covers are generally opake, rather long and narrow, 
and more or less inclined at the sides of the body, not flat 
however, but moulded somewhat to the form of the body, and 
the wings are rather shorter and broader, not netted like those 
of the tree-hoppers, but strengthened by a few longitudinal 
veins. The eyes, which are distant from each other, and placed 
at the sides of the head, are pretty large, but flattish, and not 
globular as in the Cicadas; and the eyelets, which are rarely 
wanting, vary in their situation, being sometimes on the top 
and sometimes below the front edge of the head. Notwith- 
standing the small size of most of these insects, they are 
deserving our attention on account of their beauty, delicacy, 
and surprising agility, as well as for the injury sustained by 
vegetation from them. 

It is stated by the late Mr. Fessenden, in the " New Ameri- 
can Gardener," that some persons in this country have entirely 
"abandoned their grape-vines" in consequence of the depreda- 



198 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

tions of a small insect, which, for many years, was supposed 
to be the vine-fretter of Europe. It is not, however, the. same 
insect, but is a leaf-hopper, and was first described by me in 
the year 1831, in the eighth volume of the " Encyclopaedia 
Americana,"* under the name of Tettig-onia Vitis. In its 
perfect state it measures one tenth of an inch in length. It 
is of a pale yellow or straw color; there are two little red lines 
on the head; tlie back part of the thorax, the scutel, the base 
of the wing-covers, and a broad band across their middle, are 
scarlet; the tips of the wing-covers are blackish, and there are 
some little red lines between the broad band and the tips. 
The head is crescent-shaped above, and the eyelets are situ- 
ated just below the ridge of the front. The vine-hoppers, as 
they may be called, inhabit the foreign and the native grape- 
vines, on the under surface of the leaves of which they may 
be found during the greater part of the summer; for they pass 
through all their changes on the vines. They make their first 
appearance on the leaves in June, when they are very small 
and not provided with wings, being then in the larva state. 
During most of the time they remain perfectly quiet, with 
their beaks thrust into the leaves from which they derive their 
nourishment by suction. If disturbed, however, they leap 
from one leaf to another with great agility. As they increase 
in size they have occasion frequently to change their skins, 
and great numbers of their empty cast skins, of a white color, 
will be found, throughout the summer, adhering to the under 
sides of the leaves and upon the ground beneath the vineg. 
"When arrived at maturity, which generally occurs during the 
month of August, they are still more agile than before, making 
use of their delicate wings as well as their legs in their motions 
from place to place; and, when the leaves are agitated, they 
leap and fly from them in swarms, but soon alight and begin 
again their destructive operations. The infested leaves at 
length become yellow, sickly, and prematurely dry, and give to 
the vine at midsummer the aspect it naturally assumes on the 
approach of winter. But this is not the only injury arising 

* Article Locust, p. 43. 



HEMIPTERA. 199 

from the exhausting punctures of the vine-hoppers. In conse- 
quence of the interruption of the important functions of the 
leaves, the plant itself languishes, the stem does not increase 
in size, very little new wood is formed, or, in the language of 
the gardeners, the canes do not ripen well, the fruit is stunted 
and mildews, and, if the evil be allowed to go on unchecked, 
in a few years the vines become exhausted, barren, and worth- 
less. In the autumn the vine-hoppers desert the vines, and 
retire for shelter during the coming winter beneath fallen leaves 
and among the decayed tufts and roots of grass, where they 
remain till the following spring, when they emerge from their 
winter-quarters, and in due time deposit their eggs upon the 
leaves of the vine, and then perish. As the vine-hoppers are 
much more hardy and more vivacious than the European vine- 
fretters or plant-lice, the applications that have proved destruc- 
tive to the latter are by no means s(T efficacious with the former. 
Fumigations with tobacco, beneath a movable tent placed over 
the trellisses, answer the purpose completely.* They require 
frequent repetition, and considerable care is necessary to pre- 
vent the escape and ensure the destruction of the insects; 
circumstances which render the discovery of some more expe- 
ditious method an object to those whose vineyards are extensive. 
There is another little leaf-hopper that has been mistaken 
for a vine-fretter or Thrips, though never found upon the grape- 
vine. It lives upon the leaves of rose-bushes, and is very 
injurious to them. In its perfect state it is rather less than 
three twentieths of an inch long. Its body is yellowish white, 
its wing-covers and wings are white and transparent, and its 
eyes, claws, and piercer brown. The male has two recurved 
appendages at the tip of its hind body. It may be called 
Tettig-onia Roscc.-\ Swarms of these insects may be found, 
in various stages of growth, on the leaves of the rose-bush, 
through the greater part of summer, and even in winter upon 

* See Fesscnden's " New American Gardener," p. 299, for a description of the 
tent and of the process of fumigation. 

t This insect may be the Cicada Rosa of Linnaeus, or lassus Rosa; of Fabri- 
cius. It belongs to Dr. Fitch's genus Enipua, as also does Teltigonia Fabcc. The 
Tetligoiiia Vilis is an Eri/throiieura of the same author. 



200 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

housed plants. Their numerous cast skins may be seen ad- 
hering to the lower side of the leaves. They pair and lay 
their eggs about the middle of June, and they probably live 
through the winter in the perfect state, concealed under fallen 
leaves and rubbish on the surface of the ground. Fumigations 
with tobacco, and the application of a solution of whale-oil 
soap in water with a syringe, are the best means for destroying 
these leaf-hoppers. 

I have found that the Windsor bean, a variety of the Vicia 
Faba of Linna?us, is subject to the attacks of a species of leaf- 
hopper, particularly during dry seasons, and when cultivated 
in light soils. In the early part of summer the insects are so 
small and so light colored that they easily escape observation, 
and it is not till the beginning of July, when the beans are 
usually large enough to be gathered for the table, that the 
ravages of the insects lead to their discovery. A large pro- 
portion of the pods will then be found to be rough, and covered 
with little dark colored dots or scars, and many of them seem 
to be unusually spongy and not well filled. On opening these 
spongy pods, we find that the beans have not grown to their 
proper size, and if they are left on the plant they cease to 
enlarge. At the same time the leaves, pods, and stalks are 
more or less infested with little leaf-hoppers, not fully grown, 
and unprovided with wings. Usually between the end of July 
and the middle of August the insects come to their growth 
and acquire their wings; but the mischief at this time is 
finished, and the plants have suffered so much that all pros- 
pect of a second crop of beans, from new shoots produced 
after the old stems are cut down, is frustrated. These leaf- 
hoppers have the same agility in their motions, and apparently 
the same habits, as the vine-hoppers ; but in the perfect state 
they are longer, more slender, and much more delicate. They 
are of a pale green color; the wing-covers and wings are 
transparent and colorless; and the last joint of the hind feet is 
bluish. The head, as seen from above, is crescent-shaped, and 
the two eyelets are situated on its front edge. The male has 
two long recurved feathery threads at the extremity of the 
body. The length of this species is rather more than one 



IIEMIPTERA. 201 

tenth, but less than three twentieths of an inch. It may be 
called Tettigonia Fab(C. Probably it passes the winter in the 
same way as the vine-hopper. 

2. Plant-lice. [Aphididcc.) 

The Aphidians, in which group we include the insects 
commonly known by the name of plant-lice, diifer remarkably 
from all the foregoing in their appearance, their formation, 
and their manner of increase. Their bodies are very soft, and 
usually more or less oval. The females are often without 
wing-covers and wings; and the former, when they exist, do 
not differ in texture from the wings, but are visually much 
larger and more useful in flight. We may therefore cease to 
call these parts wing-covers, in all the remaining insects of this 
order, and apply to them the name of upper wings. 

Some of the Aphidians have the power of leaping, like the 
leaf-hoppers, from which, however, they differ in having very 
large and transparent upper wings, which cover the sides of 
the body like a very steep roof; and their antennas are pretty 
long and thread-like, and are tipped with two short bristles at 
the end. Both sexes, when arrived at maturity, are winged, 
and some of the females are provided with a kind of awl at 
the end of the body, very different, however, from the piercers 
of the foregoing insects. With this they prick the leaves in 
which they deposit their eggs, and the wounds thus made 
sometimes produce little excrescences or swellings on the 
plant. These leaping plant-lice belong to a genus called 
Psi/lla, which was the Greek name for a small jumping in- 
sect. They are by no means so prolific as the other plant-lice, 
for ordinarily they produce only one brood in the year. They 
live in groups, composed of about a dozen individuals each, 
upon the stems and leaves of plants, the juices of which they 
imbibe through their tubular beaks. The young are often 
covered with a substance resembling fine cotton arranged in 
flakes. This is the case with some which are found on the 
alder and birch in the spring of the year. 

Within a few years, a kind of Psi/lla, before unknov/n here, 
has appeared upon pear-trees in the western parts of Connecti- 
26 



202 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

cut and of Massachusetts, particularly in the valley of the 
Housatonic, and in the adjoining counties of Dutchess and 
Columbia in New York. It was first made known to me, in 
December, 1848, by Dr. Ovid Plumb, of Salisbury, Connecticut, 
and it is the subject of a communication in the " American 
Agriculturist," for January, 1849. Since that time, Dr. Plumb 
has favored me with additional observations, and an account 
of his experiments with various remedies, and, towards the 
end of July, 1851, a brief visit to Salisbury gave me an oppor- 
tunity of seeing the insects in a living condition, and in the 
midst of their operations upon the trees. This Psi/lla, or 
jumping plant-louse, is one of the kinds whose young are 
naked, or not covered with a coat of cotton. In some of its 
forms it is found on pear-trees during most of the time from 
May to October; and probably two if not more broods are 
produced in the course of the summer. It was first observed 
by Dr. Plumb in the spring of 1833, on some imported pear- 
trees, which had been set the year before. These trees, in the 
autumn after they were planted, wore an unhealthy aspect, 
and had patches of a blackish rust upon their branches. Dur- 
ing the second summer, these trees died; and other trees, upon 
which the same rusty matter was found, proved to be infested 
with the same insects. Like the aphides, or plant-lice, these 
insects live by suction. By means of their suckers, which 
come from the lower side of the head near the breast, they 
puncture the bark of the twigs and small branches, and imbibe 
the sap. They soon gorge themselves to such a degree, that 
the fluid issues constantly from their bodies in drops, is thrown 
over the surface of the twigs, and, mingled with their more 
solid castings, defiles the bark, and gives it the blackish color 
above noticed. Swarms of flies and ants upon the trees are a 
sure indication of the presence of these sap-suckers, being 
attracted by the sweetish fluid thrown out by them. Young 
trees suffer excessively by the attacks of these insects, nor do 
old trees escape without injury from them. In consequence 
apparently of their ravages alone. Dr. Plumb lost several hun- 
dred pear-trees from 1834 to 1838 inclusive; his trees have 
continued to sufler, to some extent, from this cause since that 



IIEMIPTERA. 203 

time; and he informs me that the same destructive depreda- 
tions have been observed in all the adjacent region. On the 
23d of July, I saw these insects on the trees, some already- 
provided with wings, and others advancing towards maturity. 
The young ones were of a dull orange yellow color. They 
were short, and were obtuse behind, and had little wing-scales 
on the sides of their bodies. The perfect, or winged individu- 
als, were about one tenth of an inch long from the forehead 
to the tips of the closed wings. The front of the head was 
notched in the middle. The eyes were large and prominent. 
The head and thorax were brownish orange, and the hind body 
greenish. Their four ample wings were colorless and trans- 
parent, and were marked with a few dark veins. The body of 
the female is pointed at the end, and inclines to a reddish hue. 
The pear-tree, in Europe, is subject to the attacks of a similar 
insect, called PsijUa Pyri, the pear-tree Psylla. The European 
species is said to vary in color at different ages, and in different 
seasons of the year, being of a dull crimson color, shaded 
with black in the spring, when it comes forth to lay its eggs. 
Not having seen any of our pear-tree Psijllce in their spring 
dress, I cannot say whether they agree with those of Europe 
in being of the same crimson color at this season of the year. 
As, however, they do correspond very nearly in other respects 
to the descriptions given of the European species, and have 
precisely the same destructive habits, and as they were first 
detected upon imported pear-trees, I apprehend that they were 
introduced from abroad, and that they will prove to be the 
same species as the European Psylla Pyri. The following 
particulars, abridged from KoUar's " Treatise," if confirmed by 
future observations, will serve to complete the history of the 
American insect. The European pear-tree Psylla comes forth 
from its winter retreat, provided with wings, as soon as the 
buds of fruit trees begin to expand. After pairing, the female 
lays her eggs in great numbers near each other on the young 
leaves and blossoms, or on the newly-formed fruit and shoots. 
The eggs are oblong, yellowish, and look somewhat like grains 
of pollen. The young insects hatched therefrom resemble 
wingless plant-lice, and are of a dark yellow color. They 



204 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

change their skins and color repeatedly, and acquire wing- 
scales, or rudimentary wings. They then fix themselves to 
the bark in rows, and remain sucking the sap till their last 
change approaches, at which time they disperse among the 
leaves, cast ofF their skins, and appear in the winged form. 
When considerable numbers attack a pear-tree, the latter soon 
assumes an unhealthy appearance, its growth is checked, its 
leaves and shoots curl up, and the tree dies by degrees, if not 
freed from its troiiblesome guests. Kollar recommends brush- 
ing off the insects, when young, with a brush of hog's bristles, 
and crushing under foot those that fall; and also advises to 
search for the winged females in the spring, and destroy them 
by hand. Such a process would be altogether too tedious 
and uncertain here. I would therefore suggest the expedi- 
ency of washing the tvvigs with a brush dipped in a mixture 
of strong soapsuds and flour of sulphur. If this be done 
before the buds expand, the latter will not be injured thereby, 
while the application will be likely to deter the insects from 
laying their eggs on the tree. A weaker application of the 
same, or the common solution of whale-oil soap, may suffice 
to kill the young insects after they have fastened themselves 
upon the bark. If the latter be thrown upon the trees with a 
syringe, it will destroy the insects on the leaves also. 

Others, both sexes of which are also winged, have long and 
slender bodies, very narrow wings, which are fringed with fine 
hairs, and lie flatly on the back when not in use. They are 
exceedingly active in all their motions, and seem to leap rather 
than fly. They live on leaves, flowers, in buds, and even in 
the crevices of the bark of plants, but are so small that they 
readily escape notice, the largest being not more than one 
tenth of an inch in length. These minute and slender insects 
belong to the genus Thrips. Their punctures appear to poison 
plants, and often produce deformities in the leaves and blos- 
soms. The peach-tree sometimes suffers severely from their 
attacks, as well as from those of the true plant-lice; and they 
are found beneath the leaves, in little hollows caused by their 
irritating punctures. The same applications that are employed 
for the destruction of plant-lice may be used with advantage 



HEMIPTERA. 205 

upon plants infested with the Tlirips. Mrs. N. G. S. Gage, 
formerly of Concord, N. H., to whom I am indebted for much 
valuable information respecting the wheat-fly, or Cecidomyia 
Tritici, has discovered another pernicious insect in the ears of 
growing wheat. It seems to agree with the accounts of the 
Thrips cerealiinn, which sometimes infests wheat, in Europe, 
to a great extent. This insect, in its larva state, is smaller 
than the wheat maggot, is orange-colored, and is provided 
with six legs, two antennae, and a short beak, and is very 
nimble in its motions. It is supposed to suck out the juices 
of the seed, thus causing the latter to shrink, and become what 
the English farmers call pungled. This little pest may proba- 
bly be destroyed by giving the grain a thorough coating of 
slacked lime. 

Aphides, or plant-lice, as they are usually called, are among 
the most extraordinary of insects. They are found upon 
almost all parts of plants, the roots, stems, young shoots, buds, 
and leaves, and there is scarcely a plant which does not harbor 
one or two kinds peculiar to itself. They are, moreover, ex- 
ceedingly prolific, for Reaumur has proved that one individual, 
in five generations, may become the progenitor of nearly six 
thousand millions of descendants. It often happens that the 
succulent extremities and stems of plants will, in an incredibly 
short space of time, become completely coated with a living 
mass of these little lice. These are usually wingless, consisting 
of the young and of the females only ; for winged individuals 
appear only at particular seasons, usually in the autumn, but 
sometimes in the spring, and these are small males and larger 
females. After pairing, the latter lay their eggs upon or near 
the leaf-buds of the plant upon which they live, and, together 
with the males, soon afterwards perish. 

The genus to which plant-lice belong is called Aphis, from a 
Greek word which signifies to exhaust. The following are the 
principal characters by which they may be distinguished from 
other insects. Their bodies are short, oval, and soft, and are 
furnished at the hinder extremity with two little tubes, knobs, 
or pores, from which exude almost constantly minute drops of 
a fluid as sweet as honey; their heads are small, their beaks 



206 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

are very long and tubular, their eyes are globular, but they 
have not eyelets, their antennas are long, and usually taper 
towards the extremity, and their legs are also long and very 
slender, and there are only two joints to their feet. Their 
upper are nearly twice as large as the lower wings, are much 
longer than the body, are gradually widened towards the ex- 
tremity, and nearly triangular; they are almost vertical when 
at rest, and cover the body above like a very sharp-ridged roof. 

The winged plant-lice provide for a succession of their race 
by stocking the plants with eggs in the autumn, as before 
stated. These are hatched in due time in the spring, and the 
young lice immediately begin to pump up sap from the tender 
leaves and shoots, increase rapidly in size, and in a short time 
come to maturity. In this state, it is found that the brood, 
without a single exception, consists wholly of females, which 
are wingless, but are in a condition immediately to continue 
their kind. Their young, however, are not hatched from eggs, 
but are produced alive, and each female may be the mother of 
fifteen or twenty young lice in the course of a single day. 
The plant-lice of this second generation are also wingless 
females, which grow up and have their young in due time ; 
and thus brood after brood is produced, even to the seventh 
generation or more, without the appearance or intervention, 
throughout the whole season, of a single male. This extraor- 
dinary kind of propagation ends in the autumn with the birth 
of a brood of males and females, which in due time acquire 
wings and pair; eggs are then laid by these females, and with 
the death of these winged individuals, which soon follows, the 
race becomes extinct for the season. 

Plant-lice seem to love society, and often herd together in 
dense masses, each one remaining fixed to the plant by means 
of its long tubular beak; and they rarely change their places 
till they have exhausted the part first attacked. The attitudes 
and manners of these little creatures are exceedingly amusing. 
When disturbed, like restive horses, they begin to kick and 
sprawl in the most ludicrous manner. They may be seen, at 
times, suspended by their beaks alone, and throwing up their 
legs as if in a high frolic, but too much engaged in sucking to 



HEMIPTERA. 207 

withdraw their beaks. As they take in great quantities of sap, 
they would soon become gorged if they did not get rid of the 
superabundant fluid through the two little tubes or pores at 
the extremity of their bodies. When one of them gets running- 
over full, it seems to communicate its uneasy sensations, by a 
kind of animal magnetism, to the whole flock, upon which 
they all, with one accord, jerk upwards their bodies, and eject 
a shower of the honeyed fluid. The leaves and bark of plants 
much infested by these insects are often completely sprinkled 
over with drops of this sticky fluid, which, on drying, become 
dark colored, and greatly disfigure the foliage. This appear- 
ance has been denominated honey-dew; but there is another 
somewhat similar production observable on plants, after very 
dry weather, which has received the same name, and consists 
of an extravasation or oozing of the sap from the leaves. We 
are often apprised of the presence of plant-lice on plants grow- 
ing in the open air by the ants ascending and descending the 
stems. By observing the motions of the latter we soon ascer- 
tain that the sweet fluid discharged by the lice is the occasion 
of these visits. The stems swarm with slim and hungry ants 
running upwards, and others lazily descending with their bel- 
lies swelled almost to bursting. When arrived in the immediate 
vicinity of the plant-lice, they greedily wipe up the sweet fluid 
which has distiUed from them, and, when this fails, they station 
themselves among the lice, and catch the drops as they fall. 
The lice do not seem in the least annoyed by the ants, but live 
on the best possible terms with them; and, on the other hand, 
the ants, though unsparing of other insects weaker than them- 
selves, upon which they frequently prey, treat the plant-lice 
with the utmost gentleness, caressing them with their antennsB, 
and apparently inviting them to give out the fluid by patting 
their sides. Nor are the lice inattentive to these solicitations, 
when in a state to gratify the ants, for whose sake they not 
only seem to shorten the periods of the discharge, but actually 
yield the fluid when thus pressed. A single louse has been 
known to give it drop by drop successively to a number of 
ants, that were waiting anxiously to receive it. When the 
plant-lice cast their skins, the ants instantly remove the latter, 



208 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

nor will they allow any dirt or rubbish to remain upon or about 
them. They even protect them from their enemies, and run 
about them in the hot sunshine to drive away the little ichneu- 
mon flies that are for ever hovering near to deposit their eggs 
in the bodies of the lice. 

Plant-lice differ very much in form, color, clothing, and in the 
length of the honey-tubes. Some have these tubes quite long, 
as the rose-louse, Aphis Rosce^ which is green, and has a little 
conical projection or stylet, as it is called, at the extremity of 
the body, between the two honey-tubes. The cabbage-louse, 
Aphis Brassicce, has also long honey-tubes, but its body is 
covered with a whitish mealy substance. This species is very 
abundant on the under side of cabbage leaves in the month of 
August. The largest species known to me is found in clusters 
beneath the limbs of the pig-nut hickory ( Carija porcina), in 
all stages of growth, from the first to the middle of July. 
It is the Aphis* Caryce of my Catalogue. Its body, in the 
winged state, measures one quarter of an inch to t4ie end of 
the abdomen, and above four tenths of an inch to the tips of 
the upper wings, which expand rather more than seven tenths 
of an inch. It has no terminal stylet, and the honey-tubes are 
very short. Its body is covered with a bluish white substance 
like the bloom of a plum, with four rows of little transverse 
black spots on the back ; the top of the thorax, and the veins 
of the wings are black, as are also the shanks, the feet, and 
the antennae, which are clothed with black hairs; the thighs 
are reddish brown. This species sucks the sap from the limbs 
and not from the leaves of the hickory. There is another large 
species, living in the same way on the under side of the 
branches of various kinds of willows, and clustered together 
in great numbers. About the first of October they are found 
in the winged state. The body measures one tenth of an inch 
in length, and the wings expand about four tenths. The stylet 
is wanting; the body is black and without spots; the wings 
are transparent, but their veins, the short honey-tubercles, the 
third joint of the antennse, and the legs, are tawny yellow. 

* It probably belongs to the genus Lachnus of Illiger, or Ci?iara of Curtis. 



HEMIPTERA. 209 

This species cannot be identical with the willow-louse, Aphis 
Salicis of Linnaeus, which has a spotted body; and therefore 
I propose to call it Aphis Salicti, the plant-louse of willow 
groves. When crushed, it communicates a stain of a reddish 
or deep orange color. 

Some plant-lice live in the ground, and derive their nourish- 
ment from the roots of plants. We annually lose many of 
our herbaceous plants, if cultivated in a light soil, from the 
exhausting attacks of these subterranean lice. Upon pulling 
up China Asters, which seemed to be perishing from no visible 
cause, I have found hundreds of little lice, of a white color, 
closely clustered together on the roots. I could never discover 
any of them that were winged, and therefore conclude from 
this circumstance as well as from their peculiar situation, that 
they never acquire wings. Whether these are of the same 
species as the Aphis radicum of Europe, I cannot ascertain, 
as no sufficient description of the latter has ever come to my 
notice. These little lice are attended by ants, which generally 
make their nests near the roots of the plants, so as to have 
their milch kine, as the plant-lice have been called, within their 
own habitations ; and, in consequence of the combined opera- 
tions of the lice and the ants, the plants wither and prematurely 
perish. When these subterranean lice are disturbed, the at- 
tendant ants are thrown into the greatest confusion and alarm; 
they carefully take up the lice which have fallen from the roots, 
and convey them in their jaws into the deep recesses of their 
nests; and here the lice still contrive to live upon the frag- 
ments of the roots left in the soil. It is stated* that the ants 
bestow the same care and attention upon the root-lice as upon 
their own offspring, that they defend them from the attacks of 
other insects, and carry them about in their mouths to change 
their pasture; and that they pay particular attention to the 
eggs of the lice, frequently moistening them with their tongues, 
and in fine weather bringing them to the surface of the nest 
to give them the advantage of the sun. On the other hand, 
the sweet fluid supplied in abundance by these lice forms the 

* See Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology, Vol. II. pp. 91, 92. 

27 



210 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

chief nutriment both of the ants and their young, which is 
sufficient to account for their solicitude and care for their valu- 
able herds. 

The peach-tree suffers very much from the attacks of plant- 
lice, which live under the leaves, causing them by their punc- 
tures to become thickened, to curl or form hollows beneath, 
and corresponding crispy and reddish swellings above, and 
finally to perish and drop off prematurely. Whether our 
insect is the same as the European Aphis of the peach-tree 
(Aphis PersiccB of Sulzer) I cannot determine, for the want of 
a proper description of the latter. 

The injuries occasioned by plant-lice are much greater than 
would at first be expected from the small size and extreme 
weakness of the insects ; but these make up by their numbers 
what they want in strength individually, and thus become 
formidable enemies to vegetation. By their punctures, and 
the quantity of sap which they draw from the leaves, the 
functions of these important organs are deranged"*or inter- 
rupted, the food of the plant, which is there elaborated to 
nourish the stem and mature the fruit, is withdrawn, before it 
can reach its proper destination, or is contaminated and left in 
a state unfitted to supply the wants of vegetation. Plants 
are differently affected by these insects. Some wither and 
cease to grow, their leaves and stems put on a sickly appear- 
ance, and soon die from exhaustion. Others, though not 
killed, are greatly impeded in their growth, and their tender 
parts, which are attacked, become stunted, curled, or warped. 
The punctures of these lice seem to poison some plants, and 
affect others in a most singular manner, producing warts or 
swellings, which are sometimes solid and sometimes hollow, 
and contain in their interior a swarm of lice, the descendants 
of a single individual, whose punctures were the original cause 
of the tumor. I have seen reddish tumors of this kind, as big 
as a pigeon's egg, growing upon leaves, to which they were 
attached by a slender neck, and containing thousands of small 
lice in their interior. Naturalists call these tumors galls, be- 
cause they seem to be formed in the same way as the oak-galls 
which are used in the making of ink. The lice which inhabit 



HEMIPTERA. 211 

or produce them generally differ from the others, in having 
shorter antennse, being without honey-tubes, and in frequently 
being clothed with a kind of white down, which, however, 
disappears when the insects become winged. 

These downy plant-lice are now placed in the genus Erio- 
soma, which means woolly body, and the most destructive 
species belonging to it was first described, under the name of 
Aphis lanig-era, by Mr. Hausmann,* in the year 1801, as infest- 
ing the apple-trees in Germany. It seems that it had been 
noticed in England as early as the year 1787, and has since 
acquired there the name of American blight, from the erroneous 
supposition that it had been imported from this country. It 
was known, however, to the French gardeners f for a long time 
previous to both of the above dates, and, according to Mr. 
Rennie, J is found in the orchards about Harfleur, in Normandy, 
and is very destructive to the apple-trees in the department of 
Calvados. There is now good reason to believe that the mis- 
called American blight is not indigenous to this country, and 
that it has been introduced here with fruit-trees from Europe. 
Some persons, indeed, have supposed that it was not to be 
found here at all, but the late Mr. Buel has stated § that it 
existed on his apple-trees, and I have once or twice seen it on 
apple-trees in Massachusetts, where, however, it still appears 
to be rare, and consequently I have not been able to examine 
the insects sufficiently myself. The best account that I have 
seen of them is contained in Knapp's " Jom-nal of a Natural- 
ist," from which, and from Hausmann's description, the follow- 
ing observations are chiefly extracted. 

The eggs of the woolly apple-tree louse are so small as not 
to be distinguished without a microscope, and are enveloped 
in a cotton-like substance furnished by the body of the insect. 
They are deposited in the crotches of the branches and in the 
chinks of the bark at or near the surface of the ground, es- 
pecially if there are suckers springing from the same place. 
The young, when first hatched, are covered with a very short 

* lUiger's Magazin, Vol. I. p. 440. f Salisbury's Hints on Orchards, p. 39. 

X Insect Miscellanies, p. 180. 

§ New England Farmer, Vol. VII. p. 169 ; Vol. IX. p. 178. 



212 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

and fine down, and appear in the spring of the year lilce little 
specks of mould on the trees. As the season advances, and 
the insect increases in size, its downy coat becomes more dis- 
tinct, and grows in length daily. This down is very easily 
removed, adheres to the fingers when it is touched, and seems 
to issue from all the pores of the skin of the abdomen. When 
fully gi'own, the insects of the first brood are one tenth of an 
inch in length, and, when the down is rubbed off, the head, 
antennae, sucker, and shins are found to be of a blackish color, 
and the abdomen honey-yellow. The young are produced 
alive during the summer, are buried in masses of the down, 
and derive their nourishment from the sap of the bark and of 
the alburnum or young wood immediately under the bark. 
The adult insects never acquire wings, at least such is the 
testimony both of Hausmann and Knapp, and are destitute of 
honey-tubes, but from time to time emit drops of a sticky fluid 
from the extremity of the body. These insects, though desti- 
tute of wings, are conveyed from tree to tree by means of 
their long down, which is so plentiful and so light, as easily to 
be wafted by the winds of autumn, and thus the evil will 
gradually spread throughout an extensive orchard. The nu- 
merous punctures of these lice produce on the tender shoots a 
cellular appearance, and wherever a colony of them is estab- 
lished, warts or excrescences arise on the bark; the limbs thus 
attacked become sickly, the leaves turn yellow and drop off; 
and, as the infection spreads from limb to limb, the whole tree 
becomes diseased, and eventually perishes. In Gloucestershire, 
England, so many apple-trees were destroyed by these lice in 
the year 1810, that it was feared the making of cider must be 
abandoned. In the north of England the apple-trees are 
greatly injured, and some annually destroyed by them, and in 
the year 1826 they abounded there in such incredible luxuri- 
ance, that many trees seemed, at a short distance, as if they 
had been whitewashed. 

Mr. Knapp thinks that remedies can prove efficacious in 
removing this evil only upon a small scale, and that when the 
injury has existed for some time, and extended its influence 
over the parts of a large tree, it will take its course, and the 



HEMIPTERA. 213 

tree will die. He says that he has removed this blight from 
young trees, and from recently attacked places in those more 
advanced, by painting over every node or infected part of the 
tree with a composition consisting of three ounces of melted 
resin mixed with the same quantity of fish oil, which is to be 
put on while warm, with a painter's brush. Sir Joseph Banks 
succeeded in extirpating the insects from his own trees by 
removing all the old and rugged bark, and scrubbing the trunk 
and branches with a hard brush. The application of the spirits 
of tar, of spirits of turpentine, of oil, urine, and of soft soap, 
has been recommended. Mr. Buel found that oil sufficed to 
drive the insects from the trunks and branches, but that it 
could not be applied to the roots, where he stated numbers of 
the insects harbored. The following treatment I am inclined 
to think will prove as successful as any which has heretofore 
been recommended. Scrape oft' all the rough bark of the 
infected trees, and make them perfectly clean and smooth 
early in the spring; then rub the trunk and limbs with a stiff 
brush wet w^ith a solution of potash as hereafter recommended 
for the destruction of bark lice; after which remove the sods 
and earth around the bottom of the trunk, and with the scraper, 
brush, and alkaline liquor, cleanse that part as far as the roots 
can conveniently be uncovered. The earth and sods should 
immediately be carried away, fresh loam should be placed 
around the roots, and all cracks and wounds should be filled 
with grafting cement or clay mortar. Small limbs and ex- 
tremities of branches, if infected, and beyond reach of the 
aj^piications, should be cut off and burned. 

There are several other species of Eriosoma or downy lice 
in this State, inhabiting various forest and ornamental trees, 
some of which may also have been introduced from abroad. 
The descriptions of foreign plant-lice are mostly so brief and 
imperfect, that it is impossible to ascertain from them which 
of our species are identical with those of Europe; I shall 
therefore omit any further account of these insects, and close 
this part of the subject with a few remarks on the remedies to 
be employed for their destruction generally, and some notice 
of the natural enemies of plant-lice. 



214 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Solutions of soap, or a mixture of soapsuds and tobacco- 
water, used warm and applied with a watering-pot or with a 
garden engine, may be employed for the destruction of these 
insects. It is said that hot water may also be employed for 
the same purpose with safety and success. The water, tobacco- 
tea, or suds should be thrown upon the plants with considerable 
force, and if they are of the cabbage or lettuce kind, or other 
plants whose leaves are to be used as food, they should subse- 
quently be drenched thoroughly with pure water. Professor 
Lindley recommends syringing plants, as often as necessary 
to remove the lice, with a solution of half an ounce of strong 
carbonate of ammonia in one quart of water, which has the 
merit of being clean as well as effectual. Lice on the extremi- 
ties of branches may be killed by bending over the branches 
and holding them for several minutes in warm and strong 
soapsuds, or in a solution of whale-oil soap. Against the 
depredations of the plant-lice that sometimes infest potato- 
fields, dusting the plants with lime has been found a good 
remedy. Lice multiply much faster, and are more injurious 
to plants, in a dry than in a wet atmosphere; hence in green- 
houses, attention should be paid to keep the air sufficiently 
moist; and the lice are readily killed by fumigations with 
tobacco or with sulphur. To desti'oy subterranean hce on the 
roots of plants, I have found that watering with salt water 
was useful, if the plants were hardy; but tender herbaceous 
plants cannot be treated in this way, but may sometimes be 
revived, when suffering from these hidden foes, by free and 
frequent watering with soapsuds. 

Plant-lice would undoubtedly be much more abundant and 
destructive, if they were not kept in check by certain redoubt- 
able enemies of the insect kind, which seem expressly created 
to diminish their numbers. These lice-destroyers are of three 
sorts. The first are the young or larvEe of the hemispherical 
beetles familiarly known by the name of lady-birds, and scien- 
tifically by that oi Coccinella. These little beetles are gener- 
ally yellow or red, with black spots, or black, with white, red, 
or yellow spots; there are many kinds of them, and they are 
very common and plentiful insects, and are generally diffused 



HEMIPTERA. 215 

among plants. They live, both in the perfect and young state, 
upon plant-lice, and hence their services are very considerable. 
Their young are small flattened grubs of a bluish or blue-black 
color, spotted usually with red or yellow, and furnished with 
six legs near the fore part of the body. They are hatched 
from little yellow eggs, laid in clusters among the plant-lice, 
so that they find themselves at once within reach of their prey, 
which, from their superior strength, they are enabled to seize 
and slaughter in great numbers. In July, 1848, a friend sent 
to me a whole brood of lady-bird grubs, which, being found 
upon potato-vines, were thought by some of his neighbors to 
be the cause of the rot. In a few weeks, the grubs were trans- 
formed to beetles, about as big as half a pea, and having nine 
black dots on their dull orange-colored wing-shells. Hence 
they derive their name of Coccinella novenniotata, the nine- 
dotted Cocci nella. It need hardly be added that these little 
insects were wholly innocent of all offence to the plants, upon 
which, when infested \vith the common potato plant-lice, they 
may always be found. It is amusing, however, that both of 
these kinds of insects should have been charged with the same 
fault, one having no more to do with producing the disease 
than the other. 

There are some lady-birds, of a very small size, and blackish 
color, sparingly clothed with short hairs, and sometimes with 
a yellow spot at the end of the wing-covers, whose young are 
clothed with short tufts or flakes of the most delicate white 
down. These insects belong to the genus Scymmis, which 
means a lion's whelp, and they well merit such a name, for 
their young, in proportion to their size, are as sanguinary and 
ferocious as the most savage beasts of prey. I have often 
seen one of these little tufted animals preying upon plant-lice, 
catching and devouring, wdth the greatest ease, lice nearly as 
large as its own body, one after another, in rapid succession, 
without apparently satiating its hunger or diminishing its 
activity. 

The second kind of plant-lice destroyers are the young of 
the golden-eyed lace-winged fly, Chrysopa perla. This fly is 
of a pale green color, and has four wings resembling delicate 



216 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

lace, and eyes of the brilliancy of polished gold, as its generi- 
cal name implies; but, notwithstanding its delicacy and beauty, 
it is extremely disgusting from the offensive odor that it ex- 
hales. It suspends its eggs, by threads, in clusters beneath 
the leaves where plant-lice abound. The young, or larva, is a 
rather long and slender grub, provided with a pair of large 
curved and sharp teeth (jaivs), moving laterally, and each per- 
forated with a hole through which it sucks the juices of its 
victims. The havoc it makes is astonishing; for one minute 
is all the time it requires to kill the largest plant-louse, and 
suck out the fluid contents of its body. 

The last of the enemies of plant-lice are the maggots or 
young of various two-winged flies belonging to the genus 
Byrphns. Many of these flies are black with yellow bands on 
their bodies. I have often seen them hovering over small trees 
and other plants, depositing their eggs, which they do on the 
wing, like the bot-fly, curving their tails beneath the leaves, 
and fixing here and there an egg^, wherever plant-lice are dis- 
covered. Others lay their eggs near the buds of trees, where 
the young may find their appropriate nourishment as soon as 
they are hatched. The young are maggots, which are thick 
and blunt behind, tapering and pointed before ; their mouths 
are armed with a triple-pointed dart, with which they pierce 
their prey, elevate it above their heads, and feast upon its 
juices at leisure. Though these maggots are totally blind, 
they are enabled to discover their victims without much grop- 
ing about, in consequence of the provident care of the parent 
flies, which leave their eggs in the very midst of the sluggish 
lice. Mr. Kirby says, that, on examining his currant-bushes, 
which but a week before were infested by myriads of aphides, 
not one was to be found; but beneath each leaf were three or 
four full-fed maggots, surrounded by heaps of the slain, the 
trophies of their successful warfare. He also says that he has 
found it very easy to clear a plant or small tree of lice, by 
placing upon it several larvae of Coccinella or Syrphi. 



HEMIPTERA. 217 

3. Bark-lice. Coccidce. 

The celebrated scarlet in grain, which has been employed 
in Asia and the South of Europe, from the earliest ages, as a 
coloring material, was known to the Romans by the name of 
Coccus^ derived from a similar Greek word, and was, for a 
long time, supposed to be a vegetable production, or grain, as 
indeed its name implies. At length it was ascertained that 
this valuable dye was an insect, and others agreeing with it in 
habits, and some also in properties, having been discovered, 
Linnaeus retained them all under the same name. Hence in 
the genus Coccus are included not only the Thola of the Phoe- 
nicians and Jews, the Ker tries of the Arabians, or the Coccus 
of the Greeks and Romans, but the scarlet grain of Poland, 
and the still more valuable Cochenille of Mexico, together 
with various kinds of bark-lice, agreeing with the former in 
habits and structure. These insects vary very much in form ; 
some of them are oval and slightly convex scales, and others 
have the shape of a muscle; some are quite convex, and either 
formed like a boat turned bottom upwards, or are kidney-shaped, 
or globular. They live mostly on the bark of the stems of 
plants, some, however, are habitually found upon leaves, and 
some on roots. In the early state, the head is completely 
withdrawn beneath the shell of the body and concealed, the 
beak or sucker seems to issue from the breast, and the legs are 
very short and not visible from above. The females undergo 
only a partial transformation, or rather scarcely any other 
change than that of an increase in size, which, in some species 
indeed, is enormous, compared with the previous condition of 
the insect ; but the males pass through a complete transforma- 
tion before arriving at the perfect or winged state. In both 
sexes we find threadlike or tapering antennae, longer than the 
head, but much shorter than those of plant-lice, and feet con- 
sisting of only one joint, terminated by a single claw. The 
mature female retains the beak or sucker, but does not acquire 
wings; the male on the contrary has two wings, but the beak 
disappears. In both there are two slender threads at the ex 
tremity of the body, very short in some females, usually quite 
28 



218 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION, 

long in the males, which moreover are provided with a stylet 
at the tip of the abdomen, which is recurved beneath the body. 
The following account* contains a summary of nearly all 
that is known respecting the history and habits of these in- 
sects. Early in the spring the bark-lice are found apparently 
torpid, situated longitudinally in regard to the branch, the 
head upwards, and sticking by their flattened inferior surface 
closely to the bark. On attempting to remove them they are 
generally crushed, and there issues from the body a dark colored 
fluid. By pricking them with a pin, they can be made to quit 
their hold, as I have often seen in the common species, Coccus 
Hesperidum, infesting the myrtle. A little later the body is 
more swelled, and, on carefully raising it with a knife, numer- 
ous oblong eggs will be discovered beneath it, and the insect 
appears dried up and dead, and only its outer skin remains, 
which forms a convex cover to its future progeny. Under this 
protecting shield the young are hatched, and, on the approach 
of warm weather, make theu* escape at the lower end of the 
shield, which is either slightly elevated or notched at this part. 
They then move with considerable activity, and disperse them- 
selves over the young shoots or leaves. The shape of the 
young Coccus is much like that of its parent, but the body is 
of a paler color and more thin and flattened. Its six short 
legs and its slender beak are visible under a magnifier. Some 
are covered with a mealy powder, as the Coccus Cacti, or 
cochenille of commerce, and the Coccus Adonidum, or mealy 
bug of our greenhouses. Others are hairy or woolly; but 
most of them are naked and dark colored. These young 
lice insert their beaks into the bark or leaves, and draw from 
the cellular substance the sap that nourishes them. Reaumur 
observed the ground quite moist under peach-trees infested 
with bark-lice, which was caused by the dripping of the sap 
from the numerous punctures made by these insects. While 
they continue their exhausting suction of sap, they increase in 
size, and during this time are in what is called the larva state. 
When this is completed, the insects will be found to be of 

* It was drawn up by me in the year 1828, and published in the seventh 
volume of the "New England Farmer," pp. 186, 187. 



HEMIPTERA. 219 

different magnitudes, some much larger than the others, and 
they then prepare for a change that is about to ensue in their 
mode of life, by emitting from the under side of their bodies 
numerous little white downy threads, which are fastened, in a 
radiated manner, around their bodies to the bark, and serve to 
confine them securely in their places. After becoming thus 
fixed they remain apparently inanimate ; but under these life- 
less scales the transformation of the insect is conducted ; with 
this remarkable difference, that in a few days the large ones 
contrive to break up and throw off, in four or five flakes, their 
outer scaly coats, and reappear in a very similar form to that 
which they before had ; the smaller ones, on the contrary, con- 
tinue under their outer skins, which serve instead of cocoons, 
and from which they seem to shrink and detach themselves, 
and then become perfect pupae, the rudiments of wings, an- 
tennae, feet, &c., being discoverable on raising the shells. If 
we follow the progress of these small lice, which are to produce 
the males, we shall see, in process of time, a pair of threads 
and the tips of the wings protruding beneath the shell at its 
lower elevated part, and through this little fissure the perfect 
insect at length backs out. After the larger lice have become 
fixed and have thrown off their outer coats, they enter upon 
the pupa or chrysalis state, which continues for a longer or 
shorter period according to the species. But when they have 
become mature, they do not leave the skins or shells covering 
their bodies, which continue flexible for a time. These larger 
insects are the females, and are destined to remain immovable, 
and never change their place after they have once become 
stationary. The male is exceedingly small in comparison to 
the female, and is provided with only two wings, which are 
usually very large, and lie flatly on the top of the body. After 
the insects have paired, the body of the female increases in 
size, or becomes quite convex, for a time, and ever afterwards 
remains without alteration; but serves to shelter the eggs 
which are to give birth to her future offspring. These eggs, 
when matured, pass vmder the body of the mother, and the 
latter by degrees shrinks more and more till nothing is left but 
the dry outer convex skin, and the insect perishes on the spot. 



220 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Sometimes the insect's body is not large enough to cover all 
her eggs, in which case she beds them in a considerable quan- 
tity of the down that issues from the under or hinder part of 
her body. There are several broods of some species in the 
year ; of the bark-louse of the apple-tree at least two are pro- 
duced in one season. It is probable that the insects of the 
second or last brood pair in the autumn, after which the males 
die, but the females survive the winter, and lay their eggs in 
the following spring. 

Young apple-trees, and the extremities of the limbs of older 
trees are very much subject to the attacks of a small species 
of bark-louse. The limbs and smooth parts of the trunks are 
sometimes completely covered with these insects, and present 
a very singularly wrinkled and rough appearance from the 
bodies which are crowded closely together. In the winter 
these insects'are torpid, and apparently dead. They measure 
about one tenth of an inch in length, are of an oblong oval 
shape, gradually decreasing to a point at one end, and are of a 
brownish color very near to that of the bark of the tree. These 
insects resemble in shape one which was described by Reau- 
mur* in 1738, who found it on the elm in France, and Geoffroy 
named the insect Coccus arbormn linearis, while Gmelin called 
it conchiformis. This, or one much like it, is very abundant 
upon apple-trees in England, as we learn from Dr. Shawf and 
Mr. Kirby ; J and Mr. Rennie § states that he found it in great 
plenty on currant-bushes. It is highly probable that we have 
received this insect from Europe, but it is somewhat doubtful 
whether our apple-tree bark-louse be identical with the species 
found by Reaumur on the elm; and the doubt seems to be 
justified by the difference in the trees and in the habits of the 
insects, our species being gregarious, and that of the elm nearly 
solitary. It is true that on some of our indigenous forest-trees 
bark-lice of nearly the same form and appearance have been 



* Memoires, Vol. IV. p. 69, plate 5, figs. 5, 6, 7. 
t General Zoology, Vol. VI., Part I. p. 196. 
% Introduction to Entomology, Vol. I. p. 201. 
§ Insect Transformations, p. 92. 



HEMIPTERA. 221 

observed; but it is by no means clear that they are of the 
same species as those on the apple-tree. The first account 
that we have of the occurrence of bark-lice on apple-trees, in 
this country, is a communication by Mr. Enoch Perley, of 
Bridgetown, Maine, written in 1794, and published among 
the early papers of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society.* 
These insects have now become extremely common, and in- 
fest our nurseries and young trees to a very great extent. In 
the spring the eggs are readily to be seen on raising the 
little muscle-shaped scales beneath which they are concealed. 
These eggs are of a white color, and in shape nearly like those 
of snakes. Every shell contains from thirty to forty of them, 
imbedded in a small quantity of whitish friable down. They 
begin to hatch about the 25th of May, and finish about the 
10th of June, according to Mr. Perley. The young, on their 
first appearance, are nearly white, very minute, and nearly 
oval in form. In about ten days they become stationary, and 
early in June throw out a quantity of bluish white down, soon 
after which their transformations are completed, and the 
females become fertile, and deposit their eggs. These, it 
seems, are hatched in the course of the summer, and the young 
come to their growth and provide for a new brood before the 
ensuing winter. 

Among the natural means which are provided to check the 
increase of these bark-lice, are birds, many of which, especially 
those of the genera Parus and Regulus, containing the chick- 
adee and our wrens, devour great quantities of these lice. I 
have also found that these insects are preyed upon by internal 
parasites, minute ichneumon flies, and the holes (which are as 
small as if made with a fine needle), through which these little 
insects come forth, may be seen on the backs of a great many 
of the lice which have been destroyed by their intestine foes. 
The best application for the destruction of the lice is a wash 
made of two parts of soft soap and eight of water, with which 
is to be mixed lime enough to bring it to the consistence of 
thick whitewash. This is to be put upon the trunks and limbs 

* See papers for 1796, p. 32. 



222 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of the trees with a brush, and as high as practicable, so as to 
cover the whole surface, and fill all the cracks in the bark. 
The proper time for washing over the trees is in the early part 
of June, when the insects are young and tender. These in- 
sects may also be killed by using in the same way a solution 
of two pounds of potash in seven quarts of water, or a pickle 
consisting of a quart of common salt in two gallons of water. 
There has been found on the apple and pear tree another 
kind of bark-louse, which differs from the foregoing in many 
important particulars, and approaches nearest to a species 
inhabiting the aspen in Sweden, of which a description has 
been given by Dalman in the " Transactions of the Royal 
Academy of Sciences of Stockholm," * for the year 1825, under 
the name of Coccus cryptogamus. This species is of the kind 
in which the body of the female is not large enough to cover 
her eggs, for the protection whereof another provision is made, 
consisting, in this species, of a kind of membranous shell, of 
the color and consistence almost of paper. In the autumn 
and throughout the winter, these insects are seen in a dormant 
state, and of two different forms and sizes on the bark of the 
trees. The larger ones measure less than a tenth of an inch 
in length, and have the form of a common oyster shell, being 
broad at the hinder extremity, but tapering towards the other, 
which is surmounted by a little oval brownish scale. The 
small ones, which are not much more than half the length of 
the others, are of a very long oval shape, or almost four sided 
with the ends rounded; and one extremity is covered by a 
minute oval dark colored scale. These little shell-like bodies 
are clustered together in great numbers, are of a white color 
and membranous texture, and serve as cocoons to shelter the 
insects while they are undergoing their transformations. The 
large ones are the pupa-cases or cocoons of the female, beneath 
which the eggs are laid; and the small ones are the cases of 
the males, and differ from those of the females not only in 
size and shape, but also in being of a purer white color, and 
in having an elevated ridge passing down the middle. The 

• Kongl. Vetenskaps Academ. Nya Handlingar. 



HEMIPTERA. 223 

minute oval dark-colored scales on one of the ends of these 
white cases are the skins of the lice while they were in the 
young or larva state, and the white shells are probably formed 
in the same way as the down which exudes from the bodies of 
other bark-lice, but which in these assumes a regular shape, 
varying according to the sex, and becoming membranous after 
it is formed. Not having seen these insects in a living state, I 
have not been able to trace their progress, and must therefore 
refer to Dalman's memoir above mentioned, for such particu- 
lars as tend to illustrate the remaining history of this species. 
The body of the female insect, which is covered and concealed 
by the outer case above described, is minute, of an oval form, 
wrinkled at the sides, flattened above, and of a reddish color. 
By means of her beak, which is constantly thrust into the 
bark, she imbibes the sap, by which she is nourished; she un- 
dergoes no change, and never emerges from her habitation. 
The male become^ a chrysalis or pupa, and about the middle 
of July completes its transformations, makes its escape from 
its case, which it leaves at the hinder extremity, and the wings 
with which it is provided are reversed over its head during the 
operation, and are the last to be extricated. The perfect male 
is nearly as minute as a point, but a powerful magnifier shows 
its body to be divided into segments, and endued with all the 
important parts and functions of a living animal. To the 
unassisted eye, says Dalman, it appears only as a red atom, 
but it is furnished with a pair of long whitish wings, long 
antennae or horns, six legs with their respective joints, and two 
bristles terminating the tail. This minute insect perforates 
the middle of the case covering the female, and thus celebrates 
its nuptials with its invisible partner. The latter subsequently 
deposits her eggs and dies. In due time the young are hatched 
and leave the case, under which they were fosteted, by a little 
crevice at its hinder part. These young lice, which I have 
seen, are very small, of a pale yellowish brown color, and of 
an oval shape, very flat, and appearing like minute scales. 
They move about for a while, at length become stationary, 
increase in size, and in due time the whitish shells are pro- 
duced, and the included insects pass from the larva to the 



224 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

pupa state. The means for desti'oying these insects are the 
same as those recommended for the extermination of the pre- 
vious species. 

Many years ago, when on a visit from home, I observed on 
a fine native grape-vine, that was trained against the side of a [ 
house, great numbers of reddish brown bark-lice, of a globular 
form, and about half as large as a small pea, arranged in lines 
on the stems. An opportunity for further examination of this 
species did not occur till the summer of 1839, when I was led 
to the discovery of a few of these lice on my Isabella grape- 
vines, by seeing the ants ascending and descending the stems. 
Upon careful search I discovered the lice, which were nearly 
of the color of the bark of the vine, partly imbedded in a little 
crevice of the bark, and arranged one behind another in a line. 
They drew great quantities of sap, as was apparent by their 
exudations, by which the ants were attracted. Further obser- 
vations were arrested by a fire which consumed the house and 
the vines that were trained to it. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 225 



LEPIDOPTERA. 

Catekpillars. — Butterflies. Skippers. — Hawk-Moths. ^geeians or 
Boring- Caterpillars. Glaucopidians. — Moths. — Spinners. Lithosi- 
ANs. — TiQER-MoTHs. Ermine-Moths. Tussock-Moths. — Lackey-Moths. 
Lappet-Moths. — Satuhnians. — Ceratocampians. — Carpenter-Moths. — 

PSYCHIANS. NoTODONTIANS. OwL-MOTHS. CuT-WoRMS. GEOMETERS, OR 

Span-Worms, and Canker-Worms. — Delta-Moths. — Leaf-Rollers. Bud- 
Moths. Fruit-Moths. — Bee-Moths. Corn-Moths. Clothes-Moths. — 
Feather-winged Moths. 

There are perhaps no insects which are so commonly and so 
universally destructive as caterpillars ; they are inferior only to 
locusts in voracity, and equal or exceed them in their powers 
of increase, and in general are far more widely spread over 
vegetation. Caterpillars are the young of butterflies and of 
moths ; and of these, five hundred species, which are natives 
of Massachusetts, are already known to me, and probably there 
are at least as many more kinds to be discovered within the 
limits of this Commonwealth. As each female usually lays 
from two hundred to five hundred eggs, one thousand different 
kinds of butterflies and moths will produce, on an average, 
three hundred thousand caterpillars; if one half of this num- 
ber, when arrived at maturity, are females, they will give forty- 
five millions of caterpillars in the second, and six thousand 
seven hundred and fifty millions in the third generation. 
These data suffice to show that the actual number of these 
insects, existing at any one time, must be far beyond the 
limits of calculation. The greater part of caterpillars subsist 
on vegetable food, and especially on the leaves of plants; hence 
their injuries to vegetation are immense, and are too often 
forced upon our notice. Some devour the solid wood of trees, 
some live only in the pith of plants, and some confine them- 
selves to grains and seeds. Certain species attack our woollens 
and furs, thereby doing us much injury; even leather, meat, 
29 



226 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

wax, flour, and lard affbrd nourishment to particular kinds of 
caterpillars. 

Caterpillars vary greatly in form and appearance, but, in 
general, their bodies are more or less cylindrical, and composed 
of twelve rings or segments, with a shelly head, and from 
ten to sixteen legs. The first three pairs of legs are covered 
with ^shelly skin, are jointed, and tapering, and are armed at 
the end with a little claw, the other legs are thick and fleshy, 
without joints, but elastic or contractile, and are generally 
surrounded at the extremity by numerous minute hooks. 
There are six very small eyes on each side of the head, two 
short antennae, and strong jaws or nippers, placed at the sides 
of the mouth, so as to open and shut sidewise. In the middle 
of the lower lip is a little conical tube, from which the insects 
spin the silken threads that are used by them in making their 
nests and their cocoons, and in various other purposes of their 
economy. Two long and slender bags, in the interior of their 
bodies, and ending in the spinning tube, contain the matter of 
the silk. This is a sticky fluid, and it flows from the spinner 
in a fine stream, which hardens into a thread so soon as it 
comes to the air. Some caterpillars make but very little silk ; 
others, such as the silk-worm and the apple-tree caterpillar, 
produce it in great abundance. 

Some caterpillars herd together in great numbers, and pass 
the early period of their existence in society; and of these 
there are species which unite in their labors, and construct 
tents serving as a common habitation in which they live, or to 
which they retire occasionally for shelter. Others pass their 
lives in solitude, either exposed to the light and air, or shel- 
tered in leaves folded over their bodies, or form for themselves 
silken sheaths, which are either fixed or portable. Some make 
their abodes in the stems of plants, or mine in the pulpy sub- 
stance of leaves; and others conceal themselves in the ground, 
from which they issue only when in search of food. 

Caterpillars usually change their skins about four times 
before they come to their growth. At length they leave off" 
eating entirely, and prepare for their first transformation. 
Most of them, at this period, spin around their bodies a sort 



LEPIDOPTERA. 227 

of shroud or cocoon, into which some interweave the hairs of 
their own bodies, and some employ, in the same way, leaves, 
bits of wood, or even grains of earth. Other caterpillars sus- 
pend themselves, in various ways, by silken threads, without 
enclosing their bodies in cocoons; and again, there are others 
which merely enter the earth to undergo their transformations. 

When the caterpillar has thus prepared itself for the ap- 
proaching change, by repeated exertions and struggles it bursts 
open the skin on the top of its back, withdraws the fore part 
of its body, and works the skin backwards till the hinder ex- 
tremity is extricated. It then no longer appears in the cater- 
pillar form, but has become a pupa or chrysalis, shorter than 
the caterpillar, and at first sight apparently without a head or 
limbs. On close examination, however, there may be found 
traces of a head, tongue, antennae, wings, and legs, closely 
pressed to the body, to which these parts are cemented by a 
kind of varnish. Some chrysalids are angular, or furnished 
with little protuberances; but most of them are smooth, 
rounded at one end, and tapering at the other extremity. 
While in the pupa state, these insects take no food, and 
remain perfectly at rest, or only move the hinder extremity of 
the body when touched. After a while, however, the chrysalis 
begins to swell and contract, till the skin is rent over the back, 
and from the fissure there issues the head, antennae, and body 
of a butterfly or moth. When it first emerges from its pupa- 
skin the insect is soft, moist, and weak, and its wings are 
small and shrivelled; soon, however, the wings stretch out to 
their full dimensions, the superfluous moisture of the body 
passes off, and the limbs acquire their proper firmness and 
elasticity. 

The conversion of a caterpillar to a moth or butterfly is a 
transformation of the most complete kind. The form of the 
body is altered, some of the legs disappear, the others and the 
antennae become much longer than before, and four wings are 
acquired. Moreover the mouth and digestive organs undergo 
a total change ; for the insect, after its final transformation, is 
no longer fitted to subsist upon the same gross aliment as it 
did in the caterpillar state; its powerful jaws have disappeared, 



228 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. " 

and instead thereof we find a slender tongue, by means of 
which liquid nourishment is conveyed to the mouth of the 
insect, and its stomach becomes capable of digesting only 
water and the honeyed juice of flowers. 

Ceasing to increase in size, and destined to live but a short 
time after their final transformation, butterflies and moths 
spend this brief period of their existence in flitting from flower 
to flower and regaling themselves with their sweets, or in 
slaking their thirst with dew or with the water left standing 
in puddles after showers, in pamng with their mates, and in 
laying their eggs; after which they die a natural death, or fall 
a prey to their numerous enemies. 

These insects belong to an order called Lepidoptera, which 
means scaly wings ; for the mealy powder with which their 
wings are covered, when seen under a powerful microscope, is 
found to consist of little scales, lapping over each other- like 
the scales of fishes, and implanted into the skin of the wings 
by short stems. The body of these insects is also more or less 
covered with the same kind of scales, together with hair or 
down in some species. The tongue consists of two tubular 
threads placed side by side, and thus forming an instrument 
for suction, which, when not in use, is rolled up spirally beneath 
the head, and is more or less covered and concealed on each 
side by a little scaly or hairy jointed feeler. The shoulders or 
wing-joints of the fore wings are covered, on each side, by a 
small triangular piece, forming a kind of epaulette, or shoulder- 
cover ; and between the head and the thorax is a narrow piece, 
clothed with scales or hairs sloping backwards, which may be 
called the collar. The wings have a few branching veins, 
generally forming one or two large meshes on the middle. 
The legs are six in number, though only four are used in 
walking by some butterflies, in which the first pair are very 
short and are folded like a tippet on the breast ; and the feet 
are five-jointed, and are terminated, each, by a pair of claws. 

It would be difficult, and indeed impossible, to arrange the 
Lepidopterous insects according to their forms, appearance, 
and habits, in the caterpillar state, because the caterpillars of 
many of them are as yet unknown ; and therefore it is found 



LEPIDOPTERA. 229 

expedient to classify them mostly according to the characters 
furnished by them in the winged state. 

We may first divide the Lepidoptera into three great sections, 
called butterflies, hawk-moths, and moths, corresponding to 
the genera Papilio, Sphinx, and Phalcena of Linnaeus. 

The Butterflies [Papiliones) have threadlike antennae, 
which are knobbed at the end ; the fore wings in some, and all 
the wings in the greater number, are elevated perpendicularly 
and turned back to back, when at rest ; they have generally 
two little spurs on the hind legs ; and they fly by day only. 

The Hawk-Moths [Sphinges) generally have the antennae 
thickened in the middle, and tapering at each end, and most 
often hooked at the tip ; the wings are narrow in proportion 
to their length, and are confined together by a bristle or bunch 
of stiff" hairs on the shoulder of each hind wing, which is 
retained by a corresponding hook on the under side of each 
fore wing ; all the wings, when at rest, are more or less 
inclined like a roof, the upper ones covering the lower winge ; 
there are two pairs of spurs on the hind legs ; a few fly by 
day, but the greater number in the morning and evening 
twilight. 

In the Moths {Phalccncc) the antennae are neither knobbed 
at the end nor thickened in the middle, but taper from the base 
to the extremity, and are either naked, like a bristle, or are 
feathered on each side ; the wings are confined together by 
bristles and hooks, the first pair covering the hind wings, and 
are more or less sloping when at rest ; and there are two pairs 
of spurs to the hind legs. These insects fly mostly by night. 

I. BUTTERFLIES. (PapiUones.) 

Besides the characters already given, which distinguish this 
section of the Lepidoptera, it may be stated that their 
caterpillars always have sixteen legs, namely two, which are 
tapering, jointed, and scaly, to each of the first three segments 
behind the head, and a pair of thick fleshy legs, without joints, 
to all the remaining segments, except the fourth, fifth, tenth, 
and eleventh. 



230 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The butterflies are divisible into two tribes; namely, the 
true butterflies, which carry all their wings upright when at 
rest ; and the skippers, which have only the fore wings upright, 
the hind wings being nearly horizontal when at rest. 

1. Butterflies. 

In these insects, all the wings are erect when at rest, and 
the antennsB are knobbed, but never hooked, at the end. Their 
caterpillars have a head of moderate size, suspend themselves 
by the tail when about to transform, and are not enclosed in 
cocoons. Some of these butterflies have the six legs all equally 
fitted for walking ; their caterpillars are more or less cylindrical, 
and secure themselves by a transverse band, as well as by the 
tail, previously to their transformation to chrysalids ; and the 
latter are angular. All these characters exist in the following 
species. 

In the month of June, there may be found, on the leaves of 
the parsley and carrot, certain caterpillars, more commonly 
called parsley-worms, which are somewhat swelled towards 
the fore part of the body, but taper a little behind. When first 
hatched, they are less than one tenth of an inch in length, are 
of a black color, with a broad white band across the middle, 
and another on the tail ; and the back is studded with little 
black projecting points. After they have increased in size 
and have cast their coats, it is found that the white band 
covers only the sixth and sev.entli segments, that the black 
projecting points spring from spots of an orange color, and on 
the lower part of the sides is a row of white spots, two more 
spots of the same color on the top of the first segment, and 
one larger spot on the tail. These caterpillars alter in color 
and appearance with each successive moulting, and, before 
they are half grown, the projecting points and the white band 
and spots entirely disappear, the skin becomes perfectly 
smooth and of a delicate apple-green color, rather paler at the 
sides of the body, and whitish beneath, and on each segment 
there is a transverse band consisting of black and yellow spots 
alternately arranged. When touched, they thrust forth, from 



LEPIDOPTERA. 231 

a slit in the first segment of the body just behind the head, a 
pair of soft orange-colored horns, growing together at the 
bottom, and somewhat like the letter Y in form. The horns 
are scent-organs, and give out a strong and disagreeable smell, 
perceptible at some distance, and seem to be designed to 
defend the caterpillars from the annoying attacks of flies and 
ichneumons. These caterpillars usually come to their full 
size between the tenth and twentieth of July, and then 
measure about one inch and a half in length. After this, they 
leave off* eating, desert the plants, and each one seeks some 
sheltered spot, such as the side of a building or fence, or the 
trunk of a tree, where it prepares for its transformation. It 
first spins a little web or tuft of silk against the surface 
whereon it is resting, and entangles the hooks of its hindmost 
feet in it, so as to fix them securely to the spot ; it then proceeds 
to make a loop or girth of many silken threads bent into the 
form of the letter U, the ends of which are fastened to the 
surface on which it rests on each side of the middle of its 
body ; and under this, when finished, it passes its head, and 
gradually works the loop over its back, so as to support the 
body and prevent it from falling downwards. Though it 
generally prefers a vertical surface on which to fasten itself in 
an upright posture, it sometimes selects the under side of a 
limb or of a projecting ledge, where it hangs suspended, nearly 
horizontally, by its feet and the loop. Within twenty-four 
hours after it has taken its station, the caterpillar casts off" its 
caterpillar-skin and becomes a chrysalis, or pupa, of a pale 
green, ochre-yellow, or ash-gray color, with two short earlike 
projections above the head, just below which, on the upper 
part of the back, is a little prominence like a pug nose. The 
chrysalis hangs in the same way as the caterpillar, and remains 
in this state from nine to fifteen days, according to the 
temperature of the atmosphere, cold and wet weather having 
a tendency to prolong the period. When this is terminated, 
the skin of the chrysalis bursts open, and a butterfly issues 
from it, clings to the empty shell till its crumpled and drooping 
wings have extended to their full dimensions, and have become 



232 INSECTS INJUEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

dried, upon which it flies away in pursuit of companions and 
food. 

This butterfly is the Papilio Asterias of Cramer. It is of a 
black color, with a double row of yellow dots on the back ; a 
broad band, composed of yellow spots, across the wings, and a 
row of yellow spots near the hind margin ; the hind wings are 
tailed, and have seven blue spots between the yellow band and 
the outer row of yellow spots, and, near their hinder angle, an 
eye-like spot of an orange color with a black centre ; and the 
spots of the under side are tawny orange. The female differs 
from the male, above described, in having only a few small 
and distinct yellow spots on the upper side of the wings. 
The wings of this butterfly expand from three and a half to 
four inches. 

During the month of July, the Asterias butterflies may be 
seen in great abundance upon flowers, and particularly on 
those of the sweet-scented Phlox. They lay their eggs, in this 
and the following month, on various umbellate plants, placing 
them singly on different parts of the leaves and stems. I have 
found the caterpillars on the parsley, carrot, parsnip, celery, 
anise, dill, caraway, and fennel of our gardens, as well as on 
the conium, cicuta, slum, and other native plants of the same 
natural family, which originally constituted the appropriate 
food of these insects, before the exotic species furnished them 
with a greater variety and abundance. Their injury to these 
cultivated plants is by no means inconsiderable ; they not 
only eat the leaves, but are particularly fond of the blossoms 
and young seeds. I have taken twenty caterpillars on one 
plant of parsley which was going to seed. The eggs laid in 
July, and August, are hatched soon afterwards, and the 
caterpillars come to their growth towards the end of September, 
or the beginning of October ; they then suspend themselves, 
become chrysalids, in which state they remain during the 
winter, and are not transformed to butterflies till the last of 
May or the beginning of June in the following year. 

I know of no method so effectual for destroying these 
caterpillars as gathering them by hand and crushing them. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 233 

An expert person will readily detect them by their ravages on 
the plants which they inhabit; and a few minutes devoted, 
every day or two, to a careful search in the garden, during the 
season of their depredations, will suffice to remove them 
entirely. 

In Europe there are several kinds of caterpillars which live 
exclusively on the cruciferous or oleraceous plants, such as 
the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radish, turnip, and 
mustard, and oftentimes do considerable injury to them. The 
prevailing color of these caterpillars is green, and that of the 
butterflies produced from them, white. They belong to a 
genus called Pontia; in which the hind wings are not scol- 
loped nor tailed, but are rounded and entire on the edges,' and 
are grooved on the inner edge to receive the abdomen; the 
feelers are rather slender, but project beyond the head ; and 
the antennae have a short flattened knob ; their caterpillars are 
nearly cylindrical, taper a very little towards each end, and 
are sparingly clothed with short down, which requires a micro- 
scope to be distinctly seen ; they suspend themselves by the 
tail and a transverse loop ; and their chrysalids are angular at 
the sides, and pointed at both ends. 

In the northern and western parts of Massachusetts there is 
a white butterfly, which, in all its states, agrees with the fore- 
going characters. It is the Pontia oleracea, potherb Pontia, or 
white butterfly, and,-\vas first described by me in the year 
1829, in the seventh volume of the " New England Farmer."* 
About the last of May, and the beginning of June, it is seen 
fluttering over cabbage, radish, and turnip beds, and patches 
of mustard, for the purpose of depositing its eggs. These are 
fastened to the under sides of the leaves, and but seldom more 
than three or four are left upon one leaf The eggs are yel- 
lowish, nearly pear-shaped, longitudinally ribbed, and are one 
fifteenth of an inch in length. They are hatched in a week or 
ten days after they are laid, and the caterpillars produced from 
them attain their fall size when three weeks old, and then 



* Page 402. For a figure of it, see " Lake Superior," by Agassiz & Cabot, 
pl. 7,fig. 1. 

30 



234 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

measure about one inch and a half in length. Being of a pale 
green color, they are not readily distinguished from the ribs of 
the leaves beneath which they live. They do not devour the 
leaf at its edge, but begin indiscriminately upon any part of 
its under -side, through which they eat irregular holes. "When 
they have completed the feeding stage, they quit the plants, 
and retire beneath palings, or the edges of stones, or into the 
interstices of walls, where they spin a little tuft of silk, entangle 
the hooks of their hindmost feet in it, and then proceed to form 
a loop to sustain the fore part of the body in a horizontal or 
vertical position. Bending its head on one side, the caterpillar 
fastens to the surface, beneath the middle of its body, a silken 
thread, which it carries across its back and secures on the 
other side, and repeats this operation till the united threads 
have formed a band or loop of sufficient strength. On the 
next day it casts off the caterpillar skin, and becomes a chry- 
salis. This is sometimes of a pale green, and sometimes of a 
white color, regularly, and finely dotted with black ; the sides 
of the body are angular, the head is surmounted by a conical 
tubercle, and over the fore part of the body, corresponding to 
the thorax of the included butterfly, is a thin projection, having 
in profile some resemblance to a Roman nose. The chrysalis 
state lasts eleven days, at the expiration of which the insect 
comes forth a butterfly. The wings are white, but dusky next 
to the body ; the tips of the upper ones are yellowish beneath, 
with dusky veins ; the under side of the hinder wings is straw- 
colored, with broad dusky veins, and the angles next to the 
body are deep yellow ; the back is black, and the antennae are 
blackish, with narrow white rings, and ochre-yellow at the tips. 
The wings expand about two inches. I have seen these but- 
terflies in gTcat abundance during the latter part of July, and 
the beginning of August, in pairs, or laying their eggs for a 
second brood of caterpillars. The chrysalids produced from 
this autumnal brood survive the winter, and the butterflies are 
not disclosed from them till May or June. In gardens or 
fields infested by the caterpillars, boards, placed horizontally 
an inch or two above the surface of the soil, will be resorted 
to by them when they are about to change to chrysalids, and 



LEPIDOPTERA. 235 

here it will be easy to find, collect, and destroy them, either in 
the caterpillar or chrysalis state. The butterflies also may 
easily be taken by a large and deep bag-net of muslin, attached 
to a handle of five or six feet in length ; for they fly low and 
lazily, especially when busy in laying their eggs. In Europe 
the caterpillars of the white butterflies are eaten by the larger 
titmouse (Parns major), and probably our own titmouse or 
chickadee, with other insect-eating birds, will be found equally 
useful, if properly protected. 

We have several kinds of small six-footed butterflies, some 
of which are found, during the greater part of the summer, in 
the fields and around the edges of woods, flying low and fre- 
quently alighting, and oftentimes collected together in little 
swarms on the flowers of the clover, mint, and other sweet- 
scented plants. Their caterpillars secure themselves by the 
hind feet and a loop, when about to transform ; but they are 
very short and almost oval, flat below and more or less convex 
above, with a small head, which is concealed under the first 
ring ; and the feet, which are sixteen in number, are so short, 
that these caterpillars in moving seem to glide rather than 
creep. The chrysalids are short and thick, with the under side 
flat, the upper side very convex, and both extremities rounded 
or obtuse. They belong to a little group which may be called 
Lycenians (Lycenace), from the principal genus included 
in it. 

The heads of the common hop are frequently eaten by the 
little green and downy caterpillars of a very pretty butterfly, 
which has been mistaken for the ThecJa Favonius, figured in 
Mr. Abbott's "Natural History of the Insects of Georgia;" 
but it differs from it in so many respects, that I do not hesitate 
to give it another name, and will therefore call it the hop-vine 
Thecla, Thecla Humiili* The wings on the upper side are 
dusky brown, with a tint of blue-gray, and, in the males, there 
is an oval darker spot near the front edge ; the hind wings 



* M, Boisduval has figured and described this species under the name of 
Thecla Favoniiis, in his "Ilistoire dcs Lepldopteres de I'Ameriquc Septentrio- 
nale." 



236 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

have two short, thread-like tails, the inner one the longest, and 
tipped with white ; along the hind margin of these same wings 
is a row of little pale blue spots, interrupted by a large orange- 
red crescent enclosing a small black spot ; the wings beneath 
are slate-gray, with two wavy streaks of brown edged on one 
side with white, and on the hind wings an orange-colored spot 
near the hind angle, and a larger spot of the same color en- 
closing a black dot just before the tails. It expands one inch 
and one tenth. 

Some butterflies have the^ first pair of legs so much shorter 
than the others, that they cannot be used in walking, and are 
folded on the breast like a tippet. Their caterpillars, when 
about to transform, do not make a loop to support the fore 
part of the body, bvit suspend themselves vertically by the 
hindmost feet. As they all secure themselves pretty much in 
the same way, it may be proper to explain the process. Hav- 
ing finished eating, the caterpillar wanders about till it has 
discovered a suitable situation in which to pass through its 
transformations. This may be the under side of a branch or 
of a leaf, or any other horizontal object beneath which it can 
find sufficient room for its future operations. Here it spins a 
web or tuft of silk, fastening it securely to the surface beneath 
which it is resting, entangles the hooks of its hindmost feet 
among the threads, and then contracts its body and lets itself 
drop so as to hang suspended by the hind feet alone, the head 
and fore part of the body being curved upwards in the form of 
a hook. After some hours, the skin over the bent part of the 
body is rent, the fore part of the chrysalis protrudes from the 
fissure, and, by a wriggling kind of motion, the caterpillar-skin 
is slipped backwards till only the extremity of the chrysalis 
remains attached to it. The chrysalis has now to release 
itself entirely from the caterpillar-skin, which is gathered in 
folds around its tail, and to make itself fast to the silken tuft 
by the minute hooks with which the hinder extremity is 
provided. Not having the assistance of a transverse loop to 
support its body while it disengages its tail, the attempt would 
seem perilous in the extreme, if not impossible. Without 
having witnessed the operation, we should suppose that the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 237 

insect would inevitably fall, while endeavoring to accomplish 
its object. But, although unprovided with ordinary limbs, it 
is not left without the means to extricate itself from its present 
difficulty. The hinder and tapering part of the chrysalis con- 
sists of several rings or segments, so joined together as to be 
capable of moving from side to side upon each other; and 
these supply to it the place of hands. By bending together 
two of these rings near the middle of the body, the chrysalis 
seizes, in the crevice between them, a portion of the empty 
caterpillar-skin, and clings to it so as to support itself while it 
withdraws its tail from the remainder of the skin. It is now 
wholly out of the skin, to which it hangs suspended by nipping 
together the rings of its body; but, as the chrysalis is much 
shorter than the caterpillar, it is yet at some distance from the 
tuft of silk, to which it must climb before it can fix in it the 
hooks of its hinder extremity. To do this, it extends the rings 
of its body as far apart as possible, then, bending together two 
of them above those by which it is suspended, it catches hold 
of the skin higher up, at the same time letting go below, and, 
by repeating this process with different rings in succession, it 
at length reaches the tuft of silk, entangles its hooks among 
the threads, and then hangs suspended without further risk of 
falling. It next contrives to dislodge the cast caterpillar-skin 
by whirling itself around repeatedly, till the old skin is finally 
loosened from its attachment and falls to the ground. The 
whole of this operation, difficult as it may seem, is performed 
in the space of a very few minutes, and rarely does the insect 
fail to accomplish it successfully and safely. 

The caterpillars of many of the four-footed butterflies are 
spiny, or have their backs armed with numerous projecting 
points; these, in some, are short, and soft, and beset all around 
with very small stiff hairs, in others they are long, hard, and 
sharp prickles, which generally are furnished with little stiff 
branches. The butterflies have the knobs of the antennae 
short and broad; the feelers are rather long, and placed close 
together, at the base at least; the inner margin of the hind 
wings is folded downwards, and grooved for the reception of 
the body; the central mesh of these wings is not closed behind; 



238 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

and the nails of the four hind feet are divided so as to appear 
double. This group may be called Vanessians (Vanessad^). 
In the butterflies belonging to the genus Vanessa, the wings 
are jagged or tailed on the hind edges. The under side of 
the hind wings, in many, is marked with a golden or silvery 
character in the middle ; the feelers are long, curving, and 
contiguous, and form a kind of projecting beak. The head of 
the chrysalis is deeply notched or furnished with two' ear-like 
prominences; the sides are very angular; on the middle of the 
thorax there is a thin projection, in profile somewhat like a 
Roman nose ; and on the back are two rows of very sharp 
tubercles of a golden color. The caterpillars are cylindrical, 
and armed with branching spines; they live in company, at 
least during the early period of their existence, and do not 
conceal themselves under a web or within a folded leaf. 

Vanessa Antiopa. L. Antiopa butterfly. 

"Wings purplish brown above, with a broad buff"-yellow 
margin, near the inner edge of which there is a row of pale 
blue spots. Expands from 3 to 3|^ inches. 

This butterfly passes the winter in some sheltered place in a 
partially torpid state. I have found it in mid-winter sticking 
to the rafters of a barn, and in the crevices of walls and stone- 
heaps, huddled together in great numbers, with the wings 
doubled together above the back, and apparently benumbed 
and lifeless ; but it soon recovers its activity on being exposed 
to warmth. It comes out of its winter quarters very early in 
spring, often before the snow has entirely left the ground, but 
with ragged and faded wings ; and may be seen sporting in 
warm and sheltered spots in the beginning of March, and 
through the months of April and May. Wilson, in his beau- 
tiful lines on the blue-bird, alludes to its early coming in the 
spring, 

" When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing." 

The caterpillars of the Antiopa butterfly live together in 
great numbers on the poplar, willow, and elm, on which the 
first broods may be found early in June. They are black. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 239 

minutely dotted with white, with a row of eight dark brick-red 
spots on the top of the back. The head is black and rough 
with projecting points; the spines, of which there are six or 
seven on each segment, except the first, are black, stiff, and 
branched, and the intermediate legs are reddish. When fully 
grown they measure an inch and three quarters in length, and 
appear very formidable with their thorny armature, which is 
doubtless intended to defend them from their enemies. It was 
formerly supposed that they were venomous, and capable of 
inflicting dangerous wounds; and within my remembrance 
many persons were so much alarmed on this account as to cut 
down all the poplar trees around their dwellings. This alarm 
was unfounded ; for, although there are some caterpillars that 
have the power of inflicting venomous wounds with their 
spines and hairs, this is not the case with those of the Antiopa 
butterfly. The only injury which can be laid to their charge, 
is that of despoiling of their foliage some of our most orna- 
mental trees, and this is enough to induce us to take all proper 
measures for exterminating the insects, short of destroying the 
trees that they infest. I have sometimes seen them in such 
profusion on the willow and elm, that the limbs bent under 
their weight; and the long leafless branches, which they had 
stripped and deserted, gave sufficient proof of the voracity of 
these caterpillars. The chrysalis is of a dark brown color, 
with large tawny spots around the pointed tubercles on the 
back. The butterflies come forth in eleven or twelve days 
after the insects have entered upon the chrysalis state, and 
this occurs in the beginning of July. A second brood of 
caterpillars is produced in August, and they pass through all 
their changes before winter. 

Vanessa Interrogationis. F. Semicolon butterfly. 

Wings on the upper side tawny orange, with brown spots 
running together on the hinder part, and with black spots in 
the middle ; hind wings in the male most often black above, 
except at the base, and sometimes of this color in the other 
sex also ; the edges and the tails glossed with reddish white ; 
under side of the wings in some rust-red, in others marbled 



240 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

with light and dark brown, glossed with reddish white, and 
with a pale gold-colored semicolon on the middle of the hinder 
pair. Expands from 2| to 2| inches, or more. 

The paly gold character beneath the hind wings has much 
more nearly the shape of a semicolon than of a note of inter- 
rogation : for which reason I have called this the semicolon 
butterfly, instead of translating the specific name. It first 
appears in May, and again in August and September, and is 
frequently seen on the wing, in warm and sunny places, till 
the middle of October. The caterpillars live on the American 
elm and lime trees, and also on the hop-vine, and on the latter 
they sometimes abound to such a degree as totally to destroy 
the produce of the plant. In the latter part of August the 
hop-vine caterpillars come to their full growth, and suspend 
themselves beneath the leaves and stems of the plant, and 
change to chrysalids. This fact affords a favorable opportunity 
for destroying the insects in this their stationary and helpless 
stage, at some loss, however, of the produce of the vines, 
which, when the insects have become chrysalids, should be cut 
down, stripped of the fruit that is sufficiently ripened, and then 
burnt. There is probably an early brood of caterpillars in June 
or July, but I have not seen any on the hop-vine before 
August, the former are therefore confined to the elm and other 
plants, in all probability. The caterpillar is brownish, varie- 
gated with pale yellow, or pale yellow variegated with brown, 
with a yellowish line on each side of the body ; the head is 
rust-red, with two blackish branched spines on the top ; and 
the spines of the body are pale yellow or brownish and tipped 
with black. The chrysalis is ashen brown, with the head 
deeply notched, and surmounted by two conical ears, a long 
and thin nose-like prominence on the thorax, and eight silvery 
spots on the back. The chrysalis state usually lasts from 
eleven to fourteen days; but the later broods are more tardy 
in their transformations, the butterfly sometimes not appearing 
in less than twenty-six days after the change to the chrysalis. 
Great numbers of the chrysalids are annually destroyed by 
little maggots within them, which, in due time, are transformed 
to tiny four-winged flies {Pteromalus Vanessa)^ which make 



LEPIDOPTERA. 241 

their escape by eating little holes through the sides of the 
chrysalis. They are ever on the watch to lay their eggs on 
the caterpillars of this butterfly, and are so small as easily to 
avoid being wounded by the branching spines of their victims. 

Vanessa Comma, Comma butterfly. 

Upper side tawny orange ; fore wings bordered behind and 
spotted with black; hind wings shaded behind with dark 
brown, with two black spots on the middle, and three more 
in a transverse line from the front edge, and a row of bright 
orange-colored spots before the hind margin; hind edges of 
the wings powdered with reddish white ; under side marbled 
with light and dark brown, the hinder wings with a silvery 
comma in the middle. Expands from 2^ to 2| inches. 

This butterfly very closely resembles the white C. ( C. alburn) 
of Europe, for which it has probably been mistaken. On a 
close and careful comparison of several specimens of both 
together, I am satisfied that the American Comma is a dis- 
tinct species, and the hinder edges of the wings, which are not 
so deeply indented, will at once serve to distinguish it. I have 
therefore now named and described it for the first time. The 
caterpillar lives upon the hop, and, as nearly as I can recollect, 
has a general resemblance to that of the semicolon butterfly. 
The chrysalis is brownish gray, or white variegated with pale 
brown, and ornamented with golden spots; there are two 
conical ear-like projections on the top of the head, and the 
prominence on the thorax is shorter and thicker than that of 
the semicolon butterfly, and more like a parrot's beak in shape. 
The butterflies appear first in the beginning of May; I have 
obtained them from the chrysalids in the middle of July, and 
on the first of September. 

Vanessa Progne* F. Progne butterfly. 
Upper side tawny orange; fore wings bordered and spotted 
with black; hind wings blackish on the posterior half, with 

* Mr. Kirby, whose work on the insects of North America abounds in mis- 
takes, has redescribed this old and well-known species under the name of 
Vanessa C. argenteum, 

31 



242 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

two black spots before the middle, and a row of small orange- 
colored spots before the hind margin ; tails and posterior edges 
of the wings powdered with reddish white ; under side gray, 
with fine blackish streaks, and an angular silvery character 
somewhat in the form of the letter L on the middle of the 
hind wings. Expands from 1|^ to 2| inches. 

This butterfly appears in August, and probably also at other 
times. Though very much like the preceding in general ap- 
pearance, it is readily distinguished from it by the darker color 
of the hind wings and the angular shape of the silvery char- 
acter on their under side. This character is very slender, and 
is sometimes entirely wanting. I have raised the Progne and 
Comma butterflies from caterpillars which were so much alike, 
that I am not certain to which of them the following descrip- 
tion belongs. These caterpillars were found on the American 
elm in August; they were pale yellow, with a reddish colored 
head, white branching spines tipped with black, and a row of 
four rusty spots on each side of the body. They were sus- 
pended on the twenty-first and twenty-second of August, 
changed to chrysalids within twenty-four hours, and were 
transformed to butterflies sixteen days afterwards. At another 
time a Progne butterfly was obtained from a caterpillar, which 
I neglected to describe, on the eighteenth of August, the chry- 
salis state having continued only eleven days. The chrysalis 
is brownish gray, with silvery spots on the back, a short, thick, 
and rounded nose-like prominence on the thorax, and the two 
conical double-pointed horns or ears on the head, the outer 
points very short, and the inner ones longer and curving 
inwards. 

2. Skippers. [Hesperiadce.) 

The butterflies of this tribe frequent grassy places, and low 
bushes and thickets, flying but a short distance at a time, with 
a jerking motion, whence they are called skippers by English 
writers. When they alight, they usually keep the hind wings 
extended horizontally, and the fore wings somewhat raised, but 
spreading a little, and not entirely closed, as in other butter- 
flies ; some of them, however, have all the wings spread open 



i 



LEPIDOPTERA. 243 

when at rest, and there are others in which they are all elevated. 
Notwithstanding this difference in the position of the wings, 
the Hesperians all have certain characters in common, by 
which they are readily distinguished from other butterflies. 
Their bodies are short and thick, with a large head, and very 
prominent eyes; the feelers are short, almost square at the 
end, and thickly clothed with hairs, which give them a clumsy 
appearance ; the antennae are short, situated at a considerable 
distance from each other, and in most of these insects, with 
the knob at the end either curved like a hook, or ending with 
a little point bent to one side ; the legs are six in number, and 
the four hinder shanks are armed with two pairs of spurs. 
Their caterpillars are somewhat spindle-shaped, or cylindrical 
in the middle, and tapering at each extremity, without spines, 
and generally naked or merely downy, with a very large head 
and a small neck. They are solitary in their habits, and many 
of them conceal themselves within folded leaves like the cater- 
pillars of the thistle and nettle butterflies ( Cynthia Cardui and 
Atalanta), and undergo their transformations within an enve- 
lope of leaves or of fragments of stubble gathered together 
with silken threads. Their chrysalids are generally conical or 
tapering at one end, and rounded, or more rarely pointed, at the 
other, never angular or ornamented with golden spots, but most 
often covered with a bluish white powder or bloom. They are 
mostly fastened by the tail and a few transverse threads, within 
some folded leaves, which are connected together by a loose 
internal web of threads, forming a kind of imperfect cocoon. 

In the skippers, which Dr. Boisduval arranges under the 
name of Eudamiis, the knobs of the antennae are very long, 
gradually taper to a point, and are suddenly bent like a hook 
in the middle; the front edge of the fore wings, in the males, 
is doubled over; the hind wings are often tailed, or are fur- 
nished with a little projection on the hinder angle; the fringes 
are spotted ; and all the wings are raised when at rest. 

Eudamus Tityrus. F. Tityrus skipper. 

"Wings brown ; first pair with a transverse semitransparent 
band across the middle, and a few spots towards the tip, of a 



244 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

honey-yellow color; hind wings with a short rounded tail on 
the hind angles, and a broad silvery band across the middle of 
the under side. Expands from 2 to 2|- inches. 

This large and beautiful insect makes its appearance, from 
the middle of June till after the beginning of July, upon sweet- 
scented flowers, which it visits during the middle of the day. 
Its flight is vigorous and rapid, and its strength is so great 
that it cannot be captured without danger of its being greatly 
defaced in its struggles to escape. The females lay their eggs, 
singly, on the leaves of the common locust-tree (Robinia 
pseudacacia), and on those of the viscid locust [Rohinia vis- 
cosa), which is much cultivated here as an ornamental tree. 
The caterpillars are hatched in July, and when quite small 
conceal themselves under a fold of the edge of a leaf, which is 
bent over their bodies and secured by means of silken threads. 
When they become larger they attach two or more leaves 
together, so as to form a kind of cocoon or leafy case to shelter 
them from the weather, and to screen them from the prying 
eyes of birds. The full-grown caterpillar, which attains to the 
length of about two inches, is of a pale green color, trans- 
versely streaked with darker green, with a red neck, a very 
large head roughened with minute tubercles, slightly indented 
or furrowed above, and of a dull red color, with a large yellow 
spot on each side of the mouth. Although there may be and 
often are many of these caterpillars on the same tree and 
branch, yet they all live separately within their own cases. 
One end of the leafy case is left open, and from this the insect 
comes forth to feed. They eat only, or mostly, in the night, 
and keep themselves closely concealed by day. These cater- 
pillars are very cleanly in their habits, and make no dirt in 
their habitations, but throw it out with a sudden jerk, so that 
it shall fall at a considerable distance. They frequently trans- 
form to chrysalids within the same leaves which have served 
them for a habitation, but more often quit the trees and con- 
struct in some secure place a cocoon of leaves or fragments of 
stubble, the interior of which is lined with a loose web of silk. 
They remain in their cocoons without further change through- 
out the winter, and are transformed to butterflies in the follow- 



LEPIDOPTERA. 245 

ing summer. The viscid locust-tree is sometimes almost com- 
pletely stripped of its leaves by these insects, or presents only 
here and there the brown and withered remains of foliage, 
which has served as a temporary shelter to the caterpillars. 

II. HAWK-MOTHS. (SjaAw^es.*) 
LinnEBus was led to give the name of Sphinx to the insects 
in his second group of the Lepidoptera, from a fancied resem- 
blance that some of their caterpillars, when at rest, have to the 
Sphinx of the Egyptians. The attitude of these caterpillars 
is indeed very remarkable. Supporting themselves by their 
four or six hind legs, they elevate the fore part of the body, 
and remain immovably fixed in this posture for hours together. 
In the winged state, the true Sphinges are known by the name 
of humming-bird moths, from the sound which they make in 
flying, and hawk-moths, from their habit of hovering in the 
air while taking their food. These humming-bird or hawk- 
moths may be seen during the morning and evening twilight, 
flying with great swiftness from flower to flower. Their wings 
are long, narrow, and pointed, and are moved by powerful 
muscles, to accommodate which then- bodies are very thick 
and robust. Their tongues, when uncoiled, are, for the most 
part, excessively long, and with them they extract the honey 
from the blossoms of the honey-suckle and other tubular 
flowers, while on the wing. Other Sphinges fly during the 
daytime only, and in the brightest sunshine. Then it is that 
our large clear-winged Sesiae make their appearance among 
the flowers, and regale themselves with their sweets. The 
fragrant Phlox is their especial favorite. From their size and 
form and fan-like tails, from their brilliant colors, and the man- 
ner in which they take their food, poised upon rapidly vibrating 
wings above the blossoms, they might readily be mistaken for 
humming-birds. The ^Egerians are also diurnal in their habits. 
Their flight is swift, but not prolonged, and they usually alight 
while feeding. In form and color they so much resemble bees 
and wasps as hardly to be distinguished from them. The 

* See page 229. 



246 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Smerinthi are heavy and sluggish in their motions. They fly 
only during the night, and apparently, in the winged state, take 
no food; for their tongues are very short, and indeed almost 
invisible. The Glaucopidians, or Sphinges with feathered an- 
tennae, fly mostly by day, and ahght to take their food, like 
many moths, which some of them resemble in form, and in 
their transformations. The caterpillars of the Sphinges have 
sixteen legs, placed in pairs beneath the first, second, third, 
sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and last segments of the body; 
all of them, except the ^Egerians and Glaucopidians, have 
either a kind of horn or a tubercle on the top of the last seg- 
ment, and, when at rest, sit with the fore part of the body 
elevated. 

Having devoted a large portion of this treatise to a descrip- 
tion of the spinning moths, my observations on the other 
insects of this order must be brief, and confined to a few spe- 
cies, which are more particularly obnoxious on account of 
their devastations in the caterpillar state. Those persons who 
are curious to know more about the Sphinges than can be 
included in this essay, are referred to my descriptive catalogue 
of these insects, contained in the thirty-sixth volume of Pro- 
fessor Silliman's "Journal of Science." 

Every farmer's boy knows the potato-worm, as it is com- 
monly called ; a large green caterpillar, with a kind of thorn 
upon the tail, and oblique whitish stripes on the sides of the 
body. This insect, which devours the leaves of the potato, 
often to the great injury of the plant, grows to the thickness 
of the fore-finger, and the length of three inches or more. It 
attains its full size from the middle of August to the first of 
September, then crawls down the stem of the plant and buries 
itself in the ground. Here, in a few days, it throws off" its 
caterpillar-skin, and becomes a chrysalis, of a bright brown 
color, with a long and slender tongue-case, bent over from the 
head, so as to touch the breast only at the end, and sornewhat 
resembling the handle of a pitcher. It remains in the ground 
through the winter, below the reach of frost, and in the fol- 
lowing summer the chrysalis-skin bursts open, a large moth 
crawls out of it, comes to the surface of the ground, and 



LEPIDOPTERA. 247 

mounting upon some neighboring plant, waits till the approach 
of evening invites it to expand its untried wings and fly in 
search of food. This large insect has generally been con- 
founded with the Carolina Sphinx {Sphinx Carolina of Lin- 
nEBus), which it closely resembles. It measures across the 
wings about five inches; is of a gray color, variegated with 
blackish lines and bands ; and on each side of the body there 
are five round, orange-colored spots encircled with black. 
Hence it is called by English Entomologists Sphinx quinque- 
maculatus, the five-spotted Sphinx. Its tongue can be unrolled 
to the length of five or six inches, but, when not in use, is 
coiled like a watch-spring, and is almost entirely concealed, 
between two large and thick feelers, under the head. 
■ Among the numerous insects that infest our noble elms the 
•largest is a kind of Sphinx, which, from the fom* short horns 
on the fore part of the back, I have named Ceratomia* qiiad- 
ricornis, or four-horned Ceratomia. On some trees these 
Sphinges exist in great numbers, and their ravages then be- 
come very obvious ; while a few, though capable of doing 
considerable injury, may escape notice among the thick foliage 
which constitutes their food, or will only be betrayed by the 
copious and regularly formed pellets of excrement beneath the 
trees. They are very abundant during the months of July and 
August on the large elms which surround the northern and 
eastern sides of the common in Boston ; and towards the end 
of August, when they descend from the trees for the purpose 
of going into the ground, they may often be seen crawling in 
the mall in considerable numbers. These caterpillars, at this 
period of their existence, are about three inches and a half in 
length, are of a pale green color, with seven oblique white 
lines on each side of the body, and a row of little notches, 
like saw-teeth, on the back. The four short horns on their 
shoulders are also notched, and like most other Sphinges they 
have a long and stiff spine on the hinder extremity of the body. 
They enter the earth to become chrysalids and pass the win- 



* Ceratomia, derived from the Greek, means havhig horns on the shoulders, a 
peculiarity which. I have not observed in any other Sphinx. 



248 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

ter, and come forth in the winged state in the month of June 
following, at which time the moths may often be found on the 
trunks of trees, or on fences in the vicinity. In this state their 
wings expand nearly five inches, are of a light brown color, 
variegated with dark brown and white, and the hinder part of 
the body is marked with five longitudinal dark brown lines. A 
young friend of mine, in Boston, once captured on the trunks 
of the trees a large number of these moths during a morning's 
walk in the mall, although obliged to be on the alert to escape 
from the guardians of the common, whose duty it was to 
prevent the grass from being trodden down. Nearly all of 
these specimens were females, ready to deposit their eggs, with 
which their large bodies were completely filled. On being 
taken, they made scarcely any efforts to escape, and were safely 
carried away. It would not be difficult, by such means, very* 
considerably to reduce the number of these destructive insects; 
in addition to which it might be expedient, during the proper 
season, for our city authorities to employ persons to gather 
and kill every morning the caterpillars which may be found in 
those public walks where they abound. 

From the genus Sphinx I have separated another group to 
which I have given the name of Philampelus* from the circum- 
stance that the larvae or caterpillars live upon the grape-vine. 
When young they have a long and slender tail recurved over 
the back like that of a dog; but this, after one or two changes 
of the skin, disappears, and nothing remains of it but a smooth, 
eye-like, raised spot on the top of the last segment of the body. 
Some of these caterpillars are pale green and others are brown, 
and the sides of their body are ornamented by six cream-colored 
spots, of a broad oval shape, in the species which produces the 
Satellitia of Linnaeus, narrow oval and scalloped, in that which 
is transformed to the species called Achemon by Drury. They 
have the power of withdrawing the head and the first three 
segments of the body within the fourth segment, which gives 
them a short and blunt appearance when at rest. As they 
attain to the length of three inches or more, and are thick in 

♦ The literal signification of this word is / love the vine. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 249 

proportion, they consume great quantities of leaves; and the 
long leafless branches of the vine too often afford evidence of 
their voracity. They also devour the leaves of the common 
creeper [Ampelopsis quinquefoHa), which, with those of our 
indigenous vines, were their only food till the introduction and 
increased cultivation of foreign vines afforded them an addi- 
tional supply. They come to their growth during the month 
of August, enter the earth to transform, and appear in the 
winged or moth state the following summer in June and July. 
The Satellitia Hawk-moth expands from four to five inches, is 
of a light olive color, variegated with patches of darker olive. 
The Achemon expands from three to four inches, is of a reddish 
ash-color, with two triangular patches of deep brown on the 
thorax, and two square ones on each fore wing; the hind wings 
are pink, with a deeper red spot near the middle, and a broad 
ash-colored border behind. 

The grape-vine suffers still more severely from the ravages 
of another kind of Sphinx caterpillars, smaller in size than 
the preceding, and like them solitary in their habits, but more 
numerous, and, not content with eating the leaves alone, in 
their progress from leaf to leaf down the stem, they stop at 
every cluster of fruit, and, either from stupidity or disappoint- 
ment, nip off the stalks of the half-grown grapes, and allow 
them to fall to the ground untasted. I have gathered under 
a single vine above a quart of unripe grapes thus detached 
during one night by these caterpillars. They are naked and 
fleshy like those of the Achemon and Satellitia, and are gener- 
ally of a pale green color (sometimes, however, brown), with 
a row of orange-colored spots on the top of the back, six or 
seven oblique darker green or brown lines on each side, and 
a short spine or horn on the hinder extremity. The head is 
very small, and, with the fore part of the body, is somewhat 
retractile, but not so completely as in the two preceding spe- 
cies. The fourth and fifth segments being very large and 
swollen, while the three anterior segments taper abruptly to 
the head, the fore part of the body presents a resemblance to 
the head and snout of a hog. This suggested the generical 
name of Chwrocampa, or hog-caterpillar, which has been ap- 
32 



250 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

plied to some of these insects. The species under consider- 
ation is found on the vine and the creeper in July and August; 
when fully grown it descends to the ground, conceals itself 
under fallen leaves, which it draws together by a few threads 
so as to form a kind of cocoon, or covers itself with grains of 
earth and rubbish in the same way, and under this imperfect 
cover it changes to a pupa or chrysalis, and finally appears in 
the winged state in the month of July of the following year. 
The moth, to which Sir James Edward Smith gave the name 
of Pampinatrix, from its living on the shoots of the vine, ex- 
pands from two and a half to three inches, is of an olive-gray 
color, except the hind wings, which are rust-colored, and the 
fore wings and shoulder-covers are traversed with olive-green 
bands. 

Among the other Sphinges of Massachusetts may be men- 
tioned those belonging to the genus Smerinthus, whose tongue 
is very short and scarcely visible, and whose fore wings are 
generally scalloped on the outer edge. Their caterpillars are 
rough or granulated, with a stout thorn on the tail, and a tri- 
angular head, the apex of the triangle corresponding to the 
crown. The blind-eyed Smerinthus {S. exccecata) is fawn- 
colored, clouded with brown, except the hind wings, which are 
rose-colored in the middle, and ornamented with an eye-like 
black spot having a pale blue centre. The caterpillar lives on 
the apple-tree, but is not common enough to prove seriously 
injurious. The same observation will apply to that of the 
chocolate brown-eyed Sphinx [Smerinthus myops), which lives 
on the wild cherry-tree, and to the walnut Sphinx [Smerinthus 
Juglandis), which lives on the black walnut and butternut. 
The latter species is destitute of eye-like spots on the hind 
wings. Of those belonging to the genus Sphinx proper, that 
which bears the specific name drupiferarum inhabits the hack- 
berry ( Celtis occidentalis) and the plum-tree ; Sphinx Kalmics 
inhabits the broad-leaved laurel [Kalmia latifolia); the cater- 
pOlar of the Gordius is found on the apple-tree; that of the 
great ash-colored Sphinx [S. cinerea) on the lilac; Hylceus on 
the black alder [Prinos glaber, &c.), and whortleberry; and the 
curiously checkered caterpillar of Sphinx coniferarum on pines. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 251 

Of the hog-caterpillars, those of Chcerocampa Choerilus and 
versicolor may be found on swamp pinks [Azalea viscosa and 
midi flora). The caterpillar of the white-lined morning Sphinx 
[DeilephiJa lineata) feeds upon purslane and turnip leaves; and 
that of DeUephila Chamcenerii on the willow-herb [Epilobiitm 
angiistifolium). The clear-winged Sphinges, Sesia pelasg-us 
and diffinis, are distinguished by their transparent wings and 
their fan-shaped tails. They hover over flowers, like humming- 
birds, during the daytime, in the months of July and August. 
Their caterpillars bear a general resemblance to those of the 
genus Sphinx, and, as far as they are known, seem to possess 
the same habits. 

The ^Egerians (^geriad.e) constitute a very distinct group 
among the Sphinges. They are easily recognized, in the per- 
fected or winged state, by their resemblance to bees, hornets, 
or wasps, by their narrow wings, which are mostly ti'ansparent, 
and by the tufts or brush at the end of the body, which they 
have the power of spreading out like a fan at pleasure. They 
fly only in the daytime, and frequently alight to bask in the 
sunshine. Their habits, in' the caterpillar state, are entirely 
different from those of the other Sphinges; the latter living 
exposed upon plants whose leaves they devour, while the 
caterpillars of the ^Egerians are concealed within the stems 
or roots of plants, and derive their nourishment from the wood 
and pith. Hence they are commonly called borers, a name, 
however, which is equally applicable to the larvae or young of 
many insects of other orders. The caterpillars of the ^Egeri- 
ans are whitish, soft, and slightly downy. Like those of other 
Sphinges they have sixteen feet, but they are destitute of a 
thorn or prominence on the last segment of the body. When 
they have come to their full size, they enclose themselves in 
oblong oval cocoons, made of fragments of wood or bark 
cemented by a gummy matter, and within these are trans- 
formed to chrysalids. The latter are of a shining bay color, 
and the edges of the abdominal segments are armed with 
transverse rows of short teeth. By means of these little teeth, 
the chrysalis, just before it is about to be transformed to a 
winged insect, works its way out of the cocoon, and partly 



252 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

through the hole, in the stem or root, which the caterpillar had 
previously made; and the shell of the chrysahs is left half 
emerarinsr from the orifice, after the moth has escaped from it. 

The ash-tree suffers very much from the attacks of borers of Ij 
this kind, which perforate the bark and sap-wood of the trunk 
from the roots upwards, and are also found in all the branches 
of any considerable size. The trees thus infested soon show 
symptoms of disease, in the death of branches near the sum- 
mit; and, when the insects become numerous, the trees no 
longer increase in size and height, and premature decay and 
death ensue. These borers assume the chrysalis form in the 
month of June, and the chrysalids may be seen projecting half 
w^ay from the round holes in the bark of the tree in this and 
the following month, during which time their final transforma- 
tion is effected, and they burst open and escape from the shells 
of the chrysalis in the winged or moth state. Under this form 
this insect was described, in my paper in Professor Silliman's 
"Journal of Science," by the name of Trochilium* denudatum; 
as the habits of the larva are now ascertained, we may call it 
the ash-tree Trochilium. Its general color is brown ; the edges 
of the collar and of the abdominal rings, the shins, the feet, 
and the under side of the antennae are yellowish. The hind 
wings are transparent; the fore wings are opake and brown, 
variegated with rust-red ; they have a transparent space near 
the tips, and expand about an inch and a half. 

During the month of August, the squash and other cucurbi- 
taceous vines are frequently found to die suddenly down to the 
root. The cause of this premature death is a little borer, which 
begins its operations near the ground, perforates the stem, and 
devours the interior. It afterwards enters the soil, forms a 
cocoon of a gummy substance covered with particles of earth, 
changes to a chrysalis, and comes forth the next summer a 
winged insect. This is conspicuous for its orange-colored 
body, spotted with black, and its hind legs fringed with long 



* The word Trochilium is derived from Trochilus, the scientific name of the 
humming-bird genus; and these insects are sometimes called humming-bird 
moths. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 253 

orange-colored and black hairs. The hind wings only are 
transparent, and the fore wings expand from one inch to one 
inch and a half. It deposits its eggs on the vines close to the 
roots, and may be seen flying about the plants from the tenth 
of July till the middle of August. This insect, which may be 
called the squash- vine vEgeria, was first described by me in 
the year 1828, under the name of jEg-eria Cucurbitcc, the trivial 
name indicating the tribe of plants on which the caterpillar 
feeds.* 

The pernicious borer, which, during many years past, has 
proved very destructive to peach-trees throughout the United 
States, is a species of JEgeria, named exitiosa, or the destruc- 
tive, by Mr. Say, who first scientifically described it in the 
third volume of the "Journal of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia," and subsequently gave a represen- 
tation and account of it in his " American Entomology." In 
the fifth volume of the " New England Farmer," I have given 
the history of this insect, have mentioned the principal authors 
who have noticed it, and recommended preventive measures, 
which have been found effectual in protecting the peach-tree 
from its most serious attacks. The eggs, from which these 
borers are hatched, are deposited, in the course of the summer, 
upon the trunk of the tree near the root; the borers penetrate 
the bark, and devour the inner bark and sap-wood. The seat 
of their operations is known by the castings and gum which 
issue from the holes in the tree. When these borers are nearly 
one year old, they make their cocoons either under the bark of 
the trunk or of the root, or in the earth and gum contiguous 
to the base of the trees ; soon afterwards they are transformed 
to chrysalids, and finally come forth in the winged state, and 
lay the eggs for another generation of borers. The last trans- 
formation takes place from June to October, most frequently, 
however, during the month of July, in the State of Massachu- 
setts. Here, although there are several broods produced by a 



* See "New England Farmer," Vol. VIII., p. 33 ; my Discourse before the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1832, p. 26 ; and " Silliman's Journal," 
Vol. XXXYI., p. 310. 



254 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

succession of hatches, there is but one rotation of metamor- 
phoses consunmiated within a year. Hence borers, of all 
sizes, will be found in the trees throughout the year, although 
it seems to be necessary that all of them, whether more or less 
advanced, should pass through one winter before they appear 
in the winged state. Under its last form, this insect is a slen- 
der, dark blue, four-winged moth, having a slight resemblance 
to a wasp or ichneumon-fly, to which it is sometimes likened. 
The two sexes differ greatly from each other, so much so, as 
to have caused them to be mistaken for two distinct species. 
The male, which is much smaller than the female, has all the 
wings transparent, but bordered and veined with steel-blue, 
which is the general color of the body in both sexes; the palpi 
or feelers, the edges of the collar, of the shoulder-covers, of the 
rings of the abdomen, and of the brush on the tail, are pale 
yellow, and there are two rings of the same yellow color on 
the shins. It expands about one inch. The fore wings of the 
female are blue, and opake, the hind wings transparent, and 
bordered and veined like those of the male, and the middle of 
the abdomen is encircled by a broad orange-colored belt. It 
expands an inch and a half, or more. This insect does not 
confine its attacks to the peach-tree. I have repeatedly ob- 
tained both sexes from borers inhabiting the excrescences which 
are found on the trunks and limbs of the cherry-tree; and 
moreover, I have frequently taken them in connexion on the 
trunks of cherry and of peach trees. They sometimes deposit 
their eggs in the crotches of the branches of the peach-tree, 
where the borers will subsequently be found; but the injury, 
sustained by their operations in such parts, bears no comparison 
to that resulting from their attacks at the base of the tree, 
which they too often completely girdle, and thus cause its 
premature decay and death. The following plan, which was 
recommended by me in the year 1826, and has been tried with 
complete success by several persons in this vicinity, will effec- 
tually protect the neck, or most vital part of the tree, from 
injury. Remove the earth around the base of the tree, crush 
and destroy the cocoons and borers which may be found in it, 
and under the bark, cover the wounded parts with the common 



LEPIDOPTERA. 255 

clay composition, and surround the trunk with a strip of 
sheathing paper eight or nine inches wide, which should ex- 
tend two inches below the level of the soil, and be secured 
with strings of matting above. Fresh mortar should then be 
placed around the root, so as to confine the paper and prevent 
access beneath it, and the remaining cavity may be filled with 
new or unexhausted loam. This operation should be per- 
formed in the spring or during the month of June. In the 
winter the strings may be removed, and in the following spring 
the trees should again be examined for any borers that may 
have escaped search before, and the protecting applications 
should be renewed. 

In Europe there is a species of jEgeria, named by Linnaeus 
tipuUformis, which has long been known to inhabit the stems 
of the currant-bush. This, or an insect closely resembling it, 
is far too common in America, in the cultivated currant, with 
which it may have been introduced from Europe. The cater- 
pillars are produced from eggs laid singly, near the buds ; when 
hatched, they penetrate the stem to the pith, which they de- 
vour, and thus form a burrow of several inches in length in 
the interior of the stem. As the borer increases in size, it en- 
larges the hole communicating with its burrow, to admit of 
the more ready passage of its castings, and to afford it the 
means of escape when it is transformed to a moth. The infe- 
rior size of the fruit affords an indication of the operations of 
the borers ; and the perforated stems frequently break off at 
the part affected, or, if of sufficient size still to support the 
weight of the foliage and fruit, they soon become sickly, and 
finally die. In some gardens, nearly every currant-bush has 
been attacked by these borers ; and instances are known to 
me wherein all attempts to raise currant-bushes from cuttings 
have been baffled, during the second or third year of the growth 
of the plants, by the ravages of these insects. They complete 
their transformations, and appear in the moth state, about the 
middle of June. The moth is of a blue-black color ; its wings 
are transparent, but veined and fringed with black, and across 
the tips of the anterior pair there is a broad band, which is 
more or less tinged with copper-color ; the under side of the 



256 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

feelers, the collar, the edges of the shoulder-covers, and three 
very narrow rings on the abdomen, are golden yellow. The 
wings expand three quarters of an inch, or a little more. 

Some years ago, it was ascertained that a species of jEgeria 
inhabited the pear-tree in this State ; and it is said that con- 
siderable injury has resulted from it. An infested tree may 
be known by the castings thrown out of the small perforations 
made by the borers, which live under the bark of the trunk, 
and subsist chiefly upon the inner bark. They make their 
cocoons under the bark, and change to chrysalids in the latter 
part of summer. The winged insects appear in the autumn, 
having, like others of this kind, left their chrysalis skins 
projecting from the orifice of the holes which they had pre- 
viously made. In its winged form, this ^geria is very much 
like that which inhabits the currant-bush ; but it is a smaller 
species. It was described by me in the year 1830, under the 
name of jEgeria P//ri, the pear-tree ^geria ; and my account 
of it will be found on the second page of the ninth volume of 
the " New England Farmer." Its wings expand rather more 
than half an inch ; are transparent, but veined, bordered, and 
fringed with purplish black, and across the tips of the fore 
wings is a broad dark band glossed with coppery tints ; the 
prevailing color of the upper side of the body is purple-black ; 
but most of the under side is golden yellow, as are the edges 
of the collar, of the shoulder-covers, and of the fan-shaped 
brush on the tail, and there is a broad yellow band across the 
middle of the abdomen, preceded by two narrow bands of the 
same color. 

There are several more insects* belonging to this group in 
Massachusetts, one of which lives in the stems of the lilac, 
and another inhabits those of the wild currant, Ribes Jloridum. 
The winged male of the latter species is remarkable for the 
very long, slender, and cylindrical tuft or pencil at the extremity 
of the body. Of the rest, there is nothing particularly worthy 
of note. 

♦See <'Silliman's Journal," Vol. XXXVL, p. 309 to 313. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 257 

The Glaucopidians,* so named from the glaucous or bluish 
green color of some of the species, are distinguished from the 
other Sphinges by their antennae, which, in the males at least, 
and sometimes in both sexes, are feathered, or furnished on 
each side with little slender branches, parallel to each other 
like the teeth of a comb. In scientific works such antennae 
are called pectinated, from pecten, the Latin for comb. The 
caterpillars of the Glaucopidians have sixteen feet, are slender, 
and cylindrical, with a few hairs scattered generally over the 
surface of the body, or arranged in little tufts arising from 
minute warts, and are without a horn on the hinder extremity. 
They devour the leaves of plants, and make for themselves 
cocoons of coarse silk, in which they undergo their transfor- 
mations. The chrysalids are oblong oval, rounded at one end, 
tapering at the other, and are not provided with transverse 
rows of teeth on the surface of the body. In the caterpillar 
and winged states, in the nature of their transformations, and 
in their habits, these insects approach very closely to the Pha- 
laenae, or moths, forming the third division of Lepidopterous 
insects, among which they are arranged by some naturalists. 
There are not many of them in Massachusetts, and only one 
species requires to be noticed here.f This is the Procris 
Americana, a small moth of a blue-black color, with a saffron- 
colored collar, and a notched tuft on the extremity of the body. 
The wings, which are very narrow, expand nearly one inch. 
This little insect is the American representative of the Procris 
vitis or ampelophaga of Europe, which, in the caterpillar state, 
sometimes proves very injurious to the grape-vine. The habits 
of our species are exactly the same ; but have been overlooked, 
or very rarely observed in this vicinity. The caterpillars are 
gregarious, that is, considerable numbers of them live and feed 
together, collected side by side on the same leafy and only dis- 
perse when they are about to make their cocoons. They are 
of a yellow color, with a transverse row of black velvety tufts 
on each ring, and a few conspicuous hairs on each extremity 

* See additionnl obstrTations on page 346. 

t For the other species ice " Silliraan'B Journal," Vol. XXXVI., pp. 316 to 319. 

33 



258 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of the body. They are hatched from eggs, which are laid in 
clusters of twenty or more together on the lower sides of the 
leaves of the grape-vine and creeper ; and they come to their 
growth from the middle to the end of August. They then 
measure sLx tenths or rather more than one half of an inch in 
length. Their feet are sixteen in number, and rather short, 
and their motions are sluggish. When touched, they curl their 
bodies sidewise and fall to the ground, or, more rarely, hang 
suspended from the leaves by a silken thread. When young 
they eat only portions of the surface of the leaf; but, as they 
grow older they devour all but the stalk and principal veins, 
and passing from leaf to leaf, thus strip whole branches of 
their foliage. When numerous, they do much damage to the 
vines and fruit, by stripping off the leaves in midsummer, 
when most needed. I have found them in Massachusetts on 
the grape-vine and on the common creeper, or Ampelopsis 
quinquefolia, and conjecture that the latter constitutes their 
natural food. About the year 1830, Professor Hentz found 
them in swarms upon cultivated grape-vines at Chapel-Hill, in 
North Carolina ; and constant care was required to check their 
ravages there, during several successive years. Several broods 
appeared there in the course of the summer ; but hitherto, only 
one annual brood has been observed in Massachusetts, although 
two or more broods may occasionally be produced. When, 
about to make their cocoons, the caterpillars leave the vines, 
and retire to some sheltered spot. They then enclose them- 
selves, each in a very thin but tough oblong oval cocoon, and 
soon afterwards are transformed to shining brown chrysalids. 
Early in July, and in the middle of the day, I have seen the 
moths flying about grape-vines and creepers, at which time, 
also, they pair and lay their eggs. A more full account of this 
insect, illustrated by figures, will be found in Hovey's " Maga- 
zine," for June, 1844. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 259 

III. MOTHS. {PhalcBim.)* 

The third great section of the Lepidoptera, which Linnaeus 
named Phalcena, includes a vast number of insects, sometimes 
called millers, or night-butterflies, but more frequently moths. 
The latter term, thus applied, comprehends not only those do- 
mestic moths, which, in the young or caterpillar state, devour 
cloth, but all the other insects, belonging to the order Lepi- 
doptera, which cannot be arranged among the butterflies and 
hawk-moths. 

These insects vary greatly in size, color, and structure. 
Some of them, particularly those with gilded wings, are very 
minute ; while the Atlas-moth of China [Attacus Atlas), when 
its wings are expanded, covers a space measuring nearly nine 
inches by five and a half; and the owl-moth (Erebus Strix) 
has wings, which, though not so broad, expand eleven inches. 
Some female moths are destitute of wings, or have but very 
small ones, wholly unfitted for flight ; and there are species 
whose wings are longitudinally cleft into several narrow rays, 
resembling feathers. The stalk of the antennae of moths gen- 
erally tapers from the base to the end. These parts some- 
times resemble simple or naked bristles, and sometimes they 
are plumed on each side of the stalk, like feathers. There is 
often a good deal of difference in the antennae, according to 
the sex ; feathered or pectinated antennae being generally nar- 
rower in the females than in the males ; and there are some 
moths the males of which have feathered antenna, while those 
of the other sex are not feathered at all, or only furnished with 
very short projections, like teeth, at the sides. Most moths 
have a sucking-tube, commonly called the tongue, consisting 
of two hollow and tapering threads, united side by side, and 
when not in use rolled up in a spiral form ; but in many, this 
member is very short, and its two threads are not united ; and 
in some it is entirely wanting, or is reduced to a mere point. 
Two palpi or feelers are found in most moths. They grow 
from the lower lip, generally curve upwards, and cover the face 
on each side of the tongue. Some have, besides these, another 
pair, which adhere to the roots of the tongue. Many moths 

* See page 229. 



260 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

are said to have no feelers; these parts being in them very- 
small, and invisible to the naked eye. 

The caterpillars of these insects differ more from each other 
than the moths. In general they are of a cylindrical shape, 
and are provided with sixteen legs ; there are many, however, 
which have only ten, twelve, or fourteen legs ; and in a few 
the legs are so very short, as hardly to be visible, so that these 
caterpillars seem to glide along in the manner of slugs. Some 
caterpillars are naked, and others are clothed with hairs or 
bristles, and the hairs are either uniformly distributed, or grow 
in tufts. Sometimes the surface of the body is even and 
smooth ; sometimes it is covered with little warts or tubercles ; 
or it is beset with prickles and spines, which not unfrequently 
are compound or branched. 

Many caterpillars, previous to their transformation, enclose 
themselves in cocoons, composed entirely of silk, or of silk 
interwoven with hairs stripped from their own bodies, or with 
fragments of other substances within their reach. Some go 
into the ground, where they are transformed without the addi- 
tional protection of a cocoon ; others change to chrysalids in 
the interior of the stems, roots, leaves, or fruits of plants. The 
chrysalids of moths are generally of an elongated oval shape, 
rounded at one end, and tapering almost to a point at the 
other ; and they are destitute of the angular elevations which 
are found on the chrysalids of butterflies. 

These brief remarks, which are necessarily of a very general 
nature, and comprise but a few of the principal differences ob- 
servable in these insects, must suffice for the present occasion. 

I^inneeus divided the Moths into eight groups, namely, Attaci, 
Bombyces^ Noctuce^ GeometrcB, Tortrices, Pt/ralides, Tinece, and 
Alucitce ; and these (with the exception of the Attaci, which 
are to be divided between the Botnbj/ces and Noctuce), have 
been recognised as well-marked groups, and have been adopted 
by some of the best entomologists* who succeeded him. 

* It is hardly necessary to say that among these are Denis and Schifferraaller, 
the authors of the celebrated "Vienna Catalogue," besides Latreille, Leach, 
Stephens, and others, whose classifications of the Moths, how much soever 
varied, enlarged, or improved, are essentially based on the arrangement pro- 
posed by Linnaeus. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 261 

1. Spinners. {Bombyces.) 

The Bombyces, so called from Bomhijx, the ancient name of 
the silk-worm, are mostly thick-bodied moths, with antennae, 
in the greater nmnber, feathered or pectinated, at least in the 
males, the tongue and feelers very short or entirely wanting, 
the thorax woolly, but not crested, or very rarely, and the fore 
legs often very hairy. Their caterpillars have sixteen legs, are 
generally spinners, and, with few exceptions, make cocoons 
within which they are transformed. 

This tribe has been subdivided into a number of lesser 
groups or families ; but naturalists are not at all agreed upon 
the manner in which these should be arranged. We might 
place at the head of the tribe those large moths, whose 
Sphinx-like caterpillars are naked and warty, and which, in 
the winged state, are ornamented with eye-like spots like the 
Smerinthi ; or, we might place first in the series the moths 
whose caterpillars are wood-eaters, with the habits and trans- 
formations of the jEg-erians ; or, we may begin with the smaller 
species, with hairy caterpillars, whose habits and transfor- 
mations are like those of the Glaucopidians, and which re- 
semble the latter closely in the winged state ; and thus the 
series, from Procris and other moth-like Sphinges to the true 
Moths, will be uninterrupted. The latter, on the whole, seems 
to be the most natural course, and it agrees with the arrange- 
ment of Dr. Boisduval, which I shall foUow, with some slight 
changes only. 

Agreeably to this arrangement the first family of the Bom- 
byces will be the Lithosians (Lithosiadje), so named from 
two Greek words,* meaning a stone, and to live ; for the cater- 
pillars of many of these insects live in stony places, and devour 
the lichens growing on rocks. (Such also are the habits of 
Glaucosis Pholus, one of the Glaucopidians.) On this account 
they are not properly subjects for notice in this essay ; but as 
some of the larger species are grass-eaters, are conspicuous 



* This is the derivation given by M. Godart. Hist. Nat. Lepidopt. de France. 
Vol. v., p. 10. 



262 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

for their beauty, and naturally conduct to another family, par- 
ticularly obnoxious to the cultivators of the soil, it may be 
interesting to point out their distinguishing traits. 

The Lithosians are slender-bodied moths, mostly of small 
size, whose rather narrow upper or fore wings, when at rest, 
generally lie flatly on the top of the back, crossing or over- 
lapping each other on their inner margins, and entirely cover- 
ing the under wings, which are folded longitudinally, and, as 
it were, moulded around the body ; more rarely the wings 
slope a little at the sides, and cover the back like a low roof. 
The antennae are rather long, and bristle-formed ; sometimes 
naked in both sexes, more often slightly feathered with a 
double row of short hairs beneath, in the males. The tongue 
and one pair of feelers are very distinct and of moderate 
length. The back is smooth, neither woolly nor crested, but 
thickly covered with short and close feather-like scales. The 
wings of many of the Lithosians are prettily spotted, and they 
frequently fly in the daytime like the Glaucopidians. Their 
caterpillars are sparingly clothed with hairs, growing in little 
clusters from minute warts on the surface of the body. They 
enclose themselves in thin oblong cocoons of silk interwoven 
with their own hairs. The rings of their chrysalids are gener- 
ally so closely joined as not to admit of motion. Of about a 
dozen kinds inhabiting Massachusetts, I shall describe only 
two. The first of these may be called Gnophria vittata, the 
striped Gnophria. It is of a deep scarlet color ; its fore wings, 
which expand one inch and one eighth, have tAVO broad stripes, 
and a short stripe betw^een them at the tip, of a lead-color, and 
the hind wings have a very broad lead-colored border behind ; 
the middle of the abdomen and the joints of the legs are also 
lead-colored. The caterpillar lives upon lichens, and may be 
found under loose stones in the fields in the Spring. It is 
dusky, and thinly covered with stiff", sharp, and barbed black 
bristles, which grow singly from small warts. Early in May 
it makes its cocoon, which is very thin and silky ; and twenty 
days afterwards is transformed to a moth. 

By far the most elegant species is the Deiopeia bella, the 
beautiful Deiopeia. This moth has naked bristle-formed an- 



LEPIDOPTERA. 263 

tennae ; its fore wings are deep yellow, crossed by about sbc 
white bands, on each of which is a row of black dots ; the 
hind wings are scarlet red, with an irregular border of black 
behind; the body is white, and the thorax is dotted with black. 
It expands from one and a half to one inch and three quarters. 
Its time of appearance here is from the middle of July till the 
beginning of September. The caterpillar is unknown to me ; 
but Drury states that he was informed it was of the same color 
as the fore wings of the moth, (that is yellow and white dotted 
with black), and that it feeds upon the blue lupines.* The 
European De'iopeia pidchella, which is very much like our spe- 
cies, feeds, in the caterpillar state, on the leaves of the mouse- 
ear, Myosotis arvensis and palustris ; and it is probable that 
ours may be found on plants of the same kind here. 

Some of the large and richly colored Lithosians resemble, 
in many respects, the insects in the next family, called, by the 
English, tiger and ermine moths. The caterpillars of most of 
these tiger-moths are thicldy covered with hairs, whence they 
have received the name of woolly bears, and the family, in- 
cluding them, that of Arctiad.e, or Arctians, from the Greek 
word for bear. The Arctians, or tiger-moths, have shorter and 
thicker feelers than the Lithosians ; their tongue is also for the 
most part very short, not extending, when unrolled, much be- 
yond the head; their antennae, with few exceptions, are doubly 
feathered on the under side ; but the feathering is rather nar- 
row, and is hardly visible in the females ; their wings are not 
crossed on the top of the back,t but are roofed or slope down- 
wards on each side of the body, when at rest ; the thorax is 
thick, and the abdomen is short and plump, and generally 
ornamented with rows of black spots. Their fore wings are 
often variegated with dark colored spots on a light ground, or 
light colored veins on a dark ground ; and the hind wings are 
frequently red, orange, or yellow, spotted v/ith black or blue. 
They uy only in the night. Their caterpillars are covered with 



« Driry's IllustrRtions, Vol. I., p. 52, pi. 24, fig. 3. 

fTo tills euaractL'.' ':3i0 is an exception in the LopJiocampa tessellaris, the 
wings of which are closed lika Uiosc oZ Llihoclci quadra. 



264 INSECTS INJUEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

coarse hairs, spreading out on all sides like the bristles of a 
bottle-brush, and growing in clusters or tufts from little warts 
regularly arranged in transverse rows on the surface of the 
body. They run very fast, and when handled roll themselves 
up almost into the shape of a ball. Many of them are very 
destructive to vegetation, as, for example, the salt-marsh cater- 
pillar, the yellow bear-caterpillar of our gardens, and the fall 
web-caterpillar. When about to transform, they creep into 
the chinks of walls and fences, or hide themselves under stones 
and fallen leaves, where they enclose themselves in rough oval 
cocoons, made of hairs, plucked from their own bodies, inter- 
woven with a few silken threads. The chrysalis is smooth, 
and not hairy, and its joints are movable. 

Some of the slender-bodied Arctians, with bristle-formed 
antennae, which are not distinctly feathered in either sex, and 
having the feelers slender, and the tongue longer than the 
others, come so near to the Lithosians that naturalists arrange 
them sometimes among the latter, and sometimes among 
the Arctians. They belong to Latreille's genus Callimorpha 
(meaning beautiful form), one species of which inhabits Mas- 
sachusetts, and is called Callimorpha militarise the soldier- 
moth, in my Catalogue. Its fore wings expand about two 
inches, are white, almost entirely bordered with brown, with 
an oblique band of the same color from the inner margin to 
the tip ; and the brown border on the front margin generally 
has two short angular projections extending backwards on the 
surface of the wing. The hind wings are white, and without 
spots. The body is white ; the head, collar, and thighs buff- 
yellow ; and a longitudinal brown stripe runs along the top of 
the back from the collar to the tail. This is a very variable 
moth ; the brown markings on the fore wings being sometimes 
very much reduced in extent, and sometimes, on the contrary, 
they run together so much that the wings appear to be brown, 
with five large white spots. This latter variety is named 
Callimorpha Lecontei, by Br. Boisduval. The caterpillar is 
unknown to me. The caterpillars of the Callimorphas are 
more sparingly clothed with hairs than the other Arctians ; 
and they are generally dark colored with longitudinal yellow 



LEPIDOPTERA. 265 

stripes. They feed on various herbaceous and shrubby plants, 
and conceal themselves in the daytime under leaves or stones. 

Most of the other tiger and ermine moths of Massachusetts 
may be arranged under the general name of Arctia. The first of 
them would probably be placed by Mr. Kirby in CaUimorpha, 
from which, however, they differ in their shorter and more robust 
antennas, always very distinctly feathered, at least in the males. 
They are distinguished from the rest by having two black spots 
on the collar, and three short black stripes on the thorax. The 
largest and most rare of these moths is the Arctia virgo, or 
virgin tiger-moth. On account of the peculiarly strong and 
disagi'eeable odor which it gives out, it might, with greater 
propriety, have been named the stinking tiger-moth. It is a 
very beautiful insect. Its fore wings expand from two inches 
to two and a half, are flesh-red, fading to reddish buff, and 
covered with many stripes and lance-shaped spots of black; 
the hind wings are vermilion-red, with seven or eight large 
black blotches ; the under side of the body is black, the upper 
side of the abdomen vermilion-red, with a row of black spots 
close together along the top of the back. The caterpillar is 
brown, and pretty thickly covered with tufts of brown hairs. 
The moth appears here in the latter part of July and August. 

The Arg'e tiger-moth resembles the preceding, but is smaller, 
and not so highly colored, and the black markings on the fore 
wings are smaller, and separated from each other by wider 
spaces. Its general tint is a light flesh-color, fading to nankin ; 
the fore wings are marked with streaks and small triangular 
spots of black; the hind wings are generally deeper colored 
than the fore wings, and have from five to seven or eight black 
spots of different sizes upon them ; there are two black spots 
on the collar, and three on the thorax, as in the preceding 
species ; the abdomen is of the color of the hind wings, with a 
longitudinal row of black dots on the top, another on each side, 
and two rows, of larger size, beneath. The wings expand from 
one inch and three quarters to two inches. I have taken this 
moth from the twentieth of May till the middle of July. The 
caterpillar appears here sometimes in large swarms, in the 
month of October, having then become fully grown, measuring 
34 



266 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

about one inch and a half in length, and being at this time in 
search of proper winter quarters wherein to make their cocoons. 
They are of a dark greenish gray color, but appear almost 
black from the black spots wdth which they are thickly covered ; 
there are three longitudinal stripes of flesh white on the back, 
and a row of kidney-shaped spots of the same color on each 
side of the body. The warts are dark gray, and each one pro- 
duces a thin cluster of spreading blackish hairs. They eat the 
leaves of plantain and of other herbaceous plants, and it is 
stated* that they sometimes make great devastation among 
young Indian corn in the Southern States. 

A much more abundant species in Massachusetts is that 
which has been called the harnessed moth, Arctia phalerata of 
my Catalogue. It makes its appearance from the end of May 
to the middle of August, and probably breeds throughout the 
whole summer. It is of a pale buff or nankin color ; the hind 
wings next to the body and the sides of the body are reddish; 
on the fore wings are two longitudinal black stripes and four 
triangular black spots, the latter placed near the tip ; and these 
stripes and spots are arranged so that the buff-colored spaces 
between them somewhat resemble horse-harness ; the hind 
wings have several black spots near the margin ; there are two 
dots on the collar, three stripes on the thorax, and a stripe 
along the top of the back, of a black color ; the under side of 
the body and the legs are also black. The wings expand from 
one inch and a half to one inch and three quarters. The 
caterpillar is not yet known to me. This moth, in many re- 
spects, resembles one called Phyllira f by Drury, rarely found 
here, but abundant in the Southern States ; the fore wings of 
which are black, with one longitudinal line, two transverse 
Lines, and near the tip two zigzag lines forming a W, of a buff 
color. 

The feelers and tongue of the foregoing moths, though short, 
are loh'ger than in the following species, which have these 
parts, as well as the head, smaller and more covered with hairs. 
Some of the latter may be said to occupy the centre or chief 

* Abbot's Insects of Georgia, p. 125, pi. 63. t More properly Philyra. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 267 

place among the Arctians, exceeding all the rest in the breadth 
of their wings, the thickness of their bodies, and the richness 
of their colors. Among these is the great American tiger- 
moth, Arctia Americana, an undescribed species, which some 
of the French entomologists* have supposed to be the same 
as the great tiger, Arctia Caja, of Europe. Of this fine insect 
I have a specimen, which was presented to me by Mr. Edward 
Doubleday, who obtained it, with several others, near Trenton 
Falls in New York. It has not yet been discovered in Massa- 
chusetts, but will probably be found in the western part of the 
State. The fore wings of the Arctia Americana expand two 
inches and a half or more ; they are of a brown color, with 
several spots and broad winding lines of white, dividing the 
brown surface into a number of large irregular blotches ; the 
hind wings are ochre-yellow, with five or six round blue-black 
spots, three of them larger than the rest ; the thorax is brown 
and woolly ; the collar edged with white before and with crim- 
son behind ; the outer edges of the shoulder-covers are white ; 
the abdomen is ochre-yellow, with four black spots on the mid- 
dle of the back ; the thighs and fore legs are red, and the feet 
dark brown. This moth closely resembles the European Caja, 
and especially some of its varieties, from all of which, however, 
it is essentially distinguished by the white edging of the collar 
and shoulder-covers, and the absence of black lines on the 
sides of the body. It is highly probable that specimens may 
occur with orange-colored or red hind wings like the Caja, but 
I have not seen any such. The caterpillar of our species pro- 
bably resembles that of the Caja, which is dark chestnut-brown 
or black, clothed with spreading bunches of hairs, of a foxy red 
color on the fore part and sides of the body, and black on the 
back ; but the clusters of hairs, though thick, are not so close 
as to conceal the breathing holes, which form a distinct row of 
pearly white spots on each side of the body. These caterpil- 
lars eat the leaves of various kinds of garden plants, without 
much discrimination, feeding together in considerable numbers 



* Godart. Lepidopt. de France, T. IV., p. 303. It is figured in the •• Lake 
Superior" of Agassiz and Cabot, pi. 7, fig. 5. 



268 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

on the same plant when young, but scattering as they grow 
older. 

Of all the hairy caterpillars frequenting our gardens, there 
are none so common and troublesome as that which I have 
called the yellow bear. Like most of its genus it is a very 
general feeder, devouring almost all kinds of herbaceous plants 
with equal relish, from the broad-leaved plantain at the door- 
side, the peas, beans, and even the flowers of the garden, and 
the corn and coarse grasses of the fields, to the leaves of the 
vine, the currant, and the gooseberry, which it does not refuse 
when pressed by hunger. This kind of caterpillar varies very 
much in its colors ; it is perhaps most often of a pale yellow 
or straw color, with a black line along each side of the body, 
and a transverse line of the same color between each of the 
segments or rings, and it is covered with long pale yellow 
hairs. Others are often seen of a rusty or brownish yellow 
color, with the same black lines on the sides and between the 
rings, and they are clothed with foxy red or light brown hairs. 
The head and ends of the feet are ochre-yellow, and the under 
side of the body is blackish in all the varieties. They are to 
be found of different ages and sizes from the first of June till 
October. "When fully grown they are about two inches long, 
and then creep into some convenient place of shelter, make 
their cocoons, in which they remain in the chrysalis state 
during the winter, and are changed to moths in the months of 
May or June following. Some of the first broods of these 
caterpillars appear to come to their growth early in summer, 
and are transformed to moths by the end of July or the be- 
ginning of August, at which time I have repeatedly taken 
them in the winged state ; but the greater part pass through 
their last change in June. The moth is familiarly known by 
the name of the white miller, and is often seen about houses. 
Its scientific name is Arctia Virg-inica, and, as it nearly resem- 
bles the insects commonly called ermine-moths in England, 
we may give to it the name of the Virginia ermine-moth. It 
s v-^-'ite, with a black point on the middle of the fore wings, 
and two black dots on the hind wings, one on the middle and 
the other near the posterior angle, much more distinct on the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 269 

under than on the upper side ; there is a row of black dots on 
the top of the back, another on each side, and between these 
a longitudinal deep yellow stripe ; the hips and thighs of the 
fore legs are also ochre-yellow. It expands from one inch and 
a half to two inches. Its eggs are of a golden yellow color, 
and are laid, in patches, upon the leaves of plants. In some 
parts of France, and in Belgium, the people have been re- 
quired by law to echemller, or uncaterpillar, their gardens and 
orchards, and have been punished by fine for the neglect of 
the duty. Although we have not yet become so prudent and 
public spirited as to enact similar regulations, we might find 
it for our advantage to offer a bounty for the destruction of 
caterpillars ; and though we should pay for them by the quart, 
as we do for berries, we should be gainers in the end ; while 
the children, whose idle hours were occupied in the picking of 
them, would find this a profitable employment. 

The salt-marsh caterpillar, an insect by far too well known 
on our seaboard, and now getting to be common in the interior 
of the State, whither it has probably been introduced, while 
under the chrysalis form, with the salt hay annually carried 
from the coast by our inland farmers, closely resembles the 
yellow bear in some of its varieties. The history of this in- 
sect forms the svibject of a communication made by me to the 
" Agricultural Society of IMassachusetts," in the year 1823, 
and printed in the seventh volume of the "Massachusetts 
Agricultural Repository and Journal," with figures representing 
the insect in its different stages. At various times and inter- 
vals since the beginning of the present century, and probably 
before it also, the salt marshes about Boston have been overrun 
and laid waste by swarms of caterpillars. These appear to- 
wards the end of June, and grow rapidly from that time till 
the first of August. During this month they come to their 
full size, and begin to run, as the phrase is, or retreat from the 
marshes, and disperse through the adjacent uplands, often 
committing very extensive ravages in their progress. Corn- 
fields, gardens, and even the rank weeds by the way-side, afford 
them temporary nourishment while wandering in search of a 
place of security from the tide and weather. They conceal 



270 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

themselves in walls, under stones, in hay-stacks and mows, in 
wood-piles, and in any other places in their way, which will 
afford them the proper degree of shelter during the winter. 
Here they make their coarse hairy cocoons, and change to 
chrysalids, in which form they remain till the following sum- 
mer, and are transformed to moths in the month of June. In 
those cases where, from any cause, the caterpillars, when 
arrived at maturity, have been unable to leave the marshes, 
they conceal themselves beneath the stubble, and there make 
their cocoons. Such, for the most part, is the course and dura- 
tion of the lives of these insects in Massachusetts; but in the 
Middle and Southern States two broods are brought to perfec- 
tion annually; and even here some of them run through their 
course sooner, and produce a second brood of caterpillars in 
the same season; for I have obtained the moths between the 
fifteenth and twentieth of May, and again between the first 
and the tenth of August. Those which were disclosed in 
May passed the winter in the chrysalis form, while the moths 
which appeared in August must have been produced from 
caterpillars that had come to their growth, and gone through 
all their transformations during the same summer. This, how- 
ever, in Massachusetts, is not a common occurrence; for by 
far the greater part of these insects appear at one time, and 
require a year to complete their several changes. The full- 
grown caterpillar measures one inch and three quarters or more 
in length. It is clothed with long hairs, which are sometimes 
black and sometimes brown on the back and fore part of the 
body, and of a lighter brown color on the sides. The hairs, 
like those of the other Arctias, grow in spreading clusters from 
warts, which are of a yellowish color in this species. The 
body, when stripped of the hairs, is yellow, shaded at the sides 
with black, and there is a blackish line extending along the 
top of the back. The breathing holes are white, and very 
distinct even through the hairs. These caterpillars, when 
feeding on the marshes, are sometimes orertaken by the tide, 
and when escape becomes impossible, they roll themselves up 
in a circular form, as is common with others of the tribe, and 
abandon themselves to their fate. The hairs on their bodies 



LEPIDOPTEKA. 271 

seem to have a repelling power, and prevent the water from 
wetting their skins, so that they float on the surface, and are 
often carried by the waves to distant places, where they are 
thrown on shore, and left in winrows with the wash of the 
sea. After a little time most of them recover from their half- 
drowned condition, and begin their depredations anew. In 
this way these insects seem to have spread from the places 
where they first appeared to others at a considerable distance. 
From the marshes about Cambridge they were once, it is said, 
driven in great numbers, by a high tide and strong wind, upon 
Boston neck, near to Roxbury line. Thence they seem to have 
migrated to the eastern side of the neck, and, following the 
marshes to South Boston and Dorchester, they have spread in 
the course of time to those which border upon Neponset river 
and Quincy. How far they have extended north of Boston I 
have not been able to ascertain ; but I believe that they are 
occasionally found on all the marshes of Chelsea, Saugus, and 
Lynn. Although these insects do not seem ever entirely to 
have disappeared from places where they have once established 
themselves, they do not prevail every year in the same over- 
whelming swarms ; but their numbers are increased or lessened 
at irregular periods, from causes which are not well understood. 
These caterpillars are produced from eggs, which are laid by 
the moths on the grass of the marshes about the middle of 
June, and are hatched in seven or eight days afterwards, and 
the number of eggs deposited by a single female is, on an 
average, about eight hundred. The moths themselves vary 
in color. In the males, the thorax and upper side of the fore 
wings are generally white, the latter spotted with black ; the 
hind wings and abdomen, except the tail, deep ochre-yellow, 
the former with a few black spots near the hind margin, and 
the abdomen with a row of six black spots on the top of the 
back, two rows on the sides, and one on the belly; the under 
side of all the wings and the thighs are deep yellow. It ex- 
pands from one inch and seven eighths to two inches and a 
quarter. The female differs from the male either in having the 
hind wings white, instead of ochre-yellow, or in having all the 
wings ashen gray with the usual black spots. It expands two 



272 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

inches and three eighths or more. Sometimes, though rarely, 
male moths occur with the fore wings ash-colored or dusky. 
Professor Peck called this moth pseuderminea, that is, false 
ermine, and this name was adopted by me in my communica- 
tion to the " Agricultural Society." Professor Peck's name, 
however, cannot be retained, inasmuch as the insect had been 
previously named and described. Drury, the first describer of 
the moth, called the male Caprotina, and the female Acrea* 
supposing them to be different species; but the latter name 
alone has been retained for this species by most naturalists. 

In order to lessen the ravages of the salt-marsh caterpillars, 
and to secure a fair crop of hay when these insects abound, 
the marshes should be mowed early in July, at which time the 
caterpillars are small and feeble, and being unable to wander 
far, will die before the crop is gathered in. In defence of early 
mowing, it may be said that it is the only way by which the 
grass may be saved in those meadows where the caterpillars 
have multiplied to any extent; and, if the practice is followed 
generally, and continued during several years in succession, it 
will do much towards exterminating these destructive insects. 
By the practice of late mowing, where the caterpillars abound, 
a great loss in the crop will be sustained, immense numbers of 
caterpillars and grasshoppers will be left to grow to maturity 
and disperse upon the uplands, by which means the evil will 
go on increasing from year to year; or they will be brought in 
with the hay to perish in our barns and stacks, where their 
dead bodies will prove offensive to the cattle, and occasion a 
waste of fodder. To get rid of "the old fog" or stubble, which 
becomes much thicker and longer in consequence of early 
mowing, the marshes should be burnt over in March. The 
roots of the grass will not be injured by burning the stubble, 
on the contrary they will be fertilized by the ashes; while 
great numbers of young grasshoppers, cocoons of caterpillars, 
and various kinds of destructive insects, with their eggs, con- 
cealed in the stubble, will be destroyed by the fire. In the 
Province of New Brunswick, the benefit arising from burning 

* The proper orthography is Acrcea. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 273 

the stubble has long been proved ; and this practice is getting 
into favor here. 

During the autumn, there may be seen in our gardens and 
fields, and even by the way-side, a kind of caterpillar whose 
peculiar appearance must frequently have excited attention. 
It is very thickly clothed with hairs, which are stiff, short, and 
perfectly even at the ends, like the bristles of a brush, as if they 
had all been shorn off with shears to the same length. The 
hairs on the first four and last two rings are black ; and those 
on the six intermediate rings of the body are tan-red. The 
head and body of the caterpillar are also black. When one of 
these insects is taken up, it immediately rolls itself into a ball, 
like a hedge-hog, and, owing to its form, and to the elasticity 
of the diverging hairs with which it is covered, it readily slides 
from the fingers and hand of its captor. It eats the leaves of 
clover, dandelion, narrow-leaved plantain, and of various other 
herbaceous plants, and, on the approach of winter, creeps under 
stones, rails, or boards on the ground, where it remains in a 
half torpid state till spring. In April or May it makes an oval 
blackish cocoon, composed chiefly of the hairs of its body, and 
comes forth in the moth state in June or July. My specimens 
remained in the chrysalis form five weeks; but Mr. Abbot* 
states that a caterpillar of this kind, which made its cocoon in 
Georgia on the twenty-fourth of June, was transformed to a 
moth on the fifth of July, having remained only eleven days 
in the chrysalis state. The moth is the Arctia Isabella^ or 
Isabella tiger-moth, and it differs essentially from those which 
have been described, in the antennae, which are not feathered, 
but are merely covered on the under side with a few fine and 
short hairs, and even these are found only in the males. Its 
color is a dull grayish tawny yellow ; there are a few black 
dots on the wings, and the hinder pair are frequently tinged 
with orange-red ; on the top of the back is a row of about six 
black dots, and on each side of the body a similar row of dots. 
The wings expand from two inches to two inches and three 
eighths. The specific name, which was first given to this 

* Insects of Georgia, p. 131, pi. 66. 

35 



274 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

moth by Sir James Edward Smith, is expressive of its peculiar 
shade of yellow. 

We have a much smaller tiger-moth, with naked antennsB 
like those of the Isabella. Its wings are so thinly covered 
with scales as to be almost transparent. It has not yet been 
described, and it may be called the ruddle tiger-moth, Arctia 
rubricosa. Its fore wings are reddish brown, with a small 
black spot near tlie middle of each ; its hind wings are dusky, 
becoming blacker behind (more rarely red, with a broad black- 
ish border behind), with two black dots near the middle, the 
inner margin next to the body, and the fringe, of a red color; 
the thorax is reddish brown ; and the abdomen is cinnabar-red, 
with a row of black dots on the top, and another row on each 
yide. It expands about one inch and one quarter. This moth 
is rare ; and it appears here in July and August. It closely 
resembles the ruby tiger-moth, Arctia fulig-inosa, of Europe, 
the wings of which are not so transparent, and have two black 
dots on each of them, with a distinct row of larger black spots 
around the outer margin of the hind pair. The caterpillar of 
our moth is unknown to me; it will probably be found to 
resemble that of the ruby tiger, which is blackish, and thickly 
covered with reddish brown or reddish gray hairs. It eats the 
leaves of plantain, dock, and of various other herbaceous 
plants, grows to the length of one inch and three eighths, 
passes the winter concealed beneath stones, or in the crevices 
of walls, and makes its cocoon in the spring. 

The caterpillars of all the foregoing Arctians live almost 
entirely upon herbaceous plants; those which follow (with one 
exception only), devour the leaves of trees. Of the latter, the 
most common and destructive are the little caterpillars known 
by the name of fall web-worms, whose large webs, sometimes 
extending over entire branches with their leaves, may be seen 
on our native elms, and also on apple and other fruit trees, in 
the latter part of summer. The eggs, from which these cater- 
pillars proceed, are laid by the parent moth in a cluster upon a 
leaf near the extremity of a branch; they are hatched from 
the last of June till the middle of August, some broods being 
early and others late, and the young caterpillars immediately 



LEPIDOPTERA. 275 

begin to provide a shelter for themselves, by covering the upper 
side of the leaf with a web, which is the result of the united 
labors of the Avhole brood. They feed in company beneath 
this web, devouring only the upper skin and pulpy portion of 
the leaf, leaving the veins and lower skin of the leaf untouched. 
As they increase in size, they enlarge their web, carrying it 
over the next lower leaves, all the upper and pulpy parts of 
which are eaten in the same way, and thus they continue to 
work downwards, till finally the web covers a large portion of 
the branch, with its dry, brown, and filmy foliage, reduced to 
this unseemly condition by these little spoilers. These cater- 
pillars, when fully grown, measure rather more than one inch 
in length ; their bodies are more slender than those of the other 
Arctians, and are very thinly clothed with hairs of a grayish 
color, intermingled with a few which are black. The general 
color of the body is greenish yellow dotted with black; there 
is a broad blackish stripe along the top of the back, and a 
bright yellow stripe on each side. The warts, from which the 
thin bundles of spreading, silky hairs proceed, are black on the 
back, and rust-yellow or orange on the sides. The head and 
feet are black. I have not observed the exact length of time 
required by these insects to come to maturity; but towards 
the end of August and during the month of September they 
leave the trees, disperse, and wander about, eating such plants 
as happen to lie in their course, till they have found suitable 
places of shelter and concealment, where they make their thin 
and almost transparent cocoons, composed of a slight web of 
silk intermingled with a few hairs. They remain in the cocoons 
in the chrysalis state through the winter, and are transformed 
to moths in the months of June and July. These moths are 
white, and without spots; the fore thighs are tawny yellow, 
and the feet blackish. Their wings expand from one inch and 
a quarter to one inch and three eighths. Their antennae and 
feelers do not differ essentially from those of the majority of 
the Arctians, the former in the males being doubly feathered 
beneath, and those of the females having two rows of minute 
teeth on the under side. This species was first described by 
me in the seventh volume of the "New England Farmer,'" 



276 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



I 



page 33, where I gave to it the name of Arctia textor, the 
weaver, from the well-known habits of its caterpillar. Should 
it be found expedient to remove it from the genus Arctia, I 
propose to call the genus, which shall include it, Hyphantria, 
a Greek name for weaver, and place in the same genus the 
many-spotted ermine-moth, Arctia pimctatissima of Sir J. E. 
Smith, which is found in the Southern States, and agrees with 
our weaver in habits. From the foregoing account of the 
habits and transformations of the fall web-worm, or Hyphantria 
textor, it is evident that the only time in which we can attempt 
to exterminate these destructive insects with any prospect of 
success, is when they are young and just beginning to make 
their webs on the trees. So soon, then, as the webs begin to 
appear on the extremities of the branches, they should be 
stripped off, with the few leaves which they cover, and the 
caterpillars contained therein, at one grasp, and should be 
crushed under foot. 

There are many kinds of hairy caterpillars in Massachusetts, 
differing remarkably from those of the other Arctians, and re- 
sembling in some respects those belonging to the next tribe, 
with which they appear to connect the true Arctians. The 
first of these are little party-colored tufted caterpillars, which 
may be found in great plenty on the common milk-weed, 
Asclepias Syriaca, during the latter part of July and the whole 
of August. Although the plants on which these insects live 
are generally looked upon as weeds, and cumberers of the soil, 
yet the insects themselves are deserving of notice, on account 
of their singularity, and the place that they fill in the order to 
which they belong. They keep together in companies, side by 
side, beneath the leaves, their heads all turned towards the 
edge of the leaf while they are eating, and when at rest they 
arch up the fore part of the body and bend down the head, 
^which is then completely concealed by long overhanging tufts 
of hairs, and if disturbed they jerk their heads and bodies in a 
very odd way. These harlequin caterpillars have sixteen legs, 
^which, with the head, are black. Their bodies are black also, 
^•with a whitish line on each side, and are thickly covered with 
^short tufts of hairs proceeding from little warts. Along the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 277 

top of the back is a row of short black tufts, and on each side, 
from the fifth to the tenth ring inclusive, are alternate tufts of 
orange and of yellow hairs, curving upwards so as nearly to 
conceal the black tufts between them; below these along the 
sides of the body is a row of horizontal black tufts; on the 
first and second rings are four long pencil-like black tufts 
extending over the head, on each side of the third ring is a 
similar black pencil, and two, which are white, placed in the 
same manner on the sides of the fourth and of the tenth rings. 
About the last of August, and during the month of September, 
these caterpillars leave the milk-weed, disperse, conceal them- 
selves, and make their cocoons, which mostly consist of hairs. 
The chrysalis is short, almost egg-shaped, being quite blunt 
and rounded at the hind end, and is covered with little punc- 
tures like those on the head of a thimble, only much smaller. 
The chrysalids are transformed to moths between the middle 
of June and the beginning of July. These moths, though not 
so slender as the Callimorphas, are not so thick and robust as 
the Arctias, their antennae resemble those of the latter, but are 
rather longer, the feelers are also longer, and spread apart from 
each other, and the tongue is but little longer than the head, 
when unrolled. The wings are rather long, thin, and delicate, 
of a bluish gray color, paler on the front edge, and without 
spots; the head, thorax, under side of the body, and the legs 
are also gray; the neck is cream-colored; the top of the abdo- 
men bright Indian-yellow, with a row of black spots, and two 
rows on each side. It expands from one inch and three quar- 
ters to nearly two inches. This moth was figured and described 
many years ago by Drury, who named it E^le. Though marked 
and colored like some of the Arctias (for example, the liictifera 
of Europe), it cannot with propriety be included in the same 
genus, and therefore I have proposed to call it Euchcetes Egle; 
the first name, signifying fine-haired, or having a flowing mane, 
is given to it on account of the long tufts of hairs overhanging 
the fore part of the caterpillar like a mane. This moth, in 
some of its characters, approaches to the Lithosians, but seems, 
in others, too near to the Arctians to be removed from the 
latter tribe, and it is evidently, in the caterpillar state, nearly 



278 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

allied to the following insects, which are undoubtedly Arctians, 
but lead apparently to the Liparians. If our Arctians are 
grouped in a circle, with the larger kinds, such as the great 
American tiger and leopard moths in the middle, and the others 
arranged around them, then will these species, which are here 
described last, be brought round to the Callimorphas, with 
which the series began, and thus a natural order of succession 
will be preserved. 

During the months of August and September, there may be 
seen on the hickory, and frequently also on the elm and ash, 
troops of caterpillars, covered with short spreading tufts of 
white hairs, with a row of eight black tufts on the back, and 
two long, slender, black pencils on the fourth and on the tenth 
ring. The tufts along the top of the back converge on each 
side, so as to form a kind of ridge or crest; and the warts, 
from which these tufts proceed, are oblong-oval and transverse, 
while the other warts on the body are round. The hairs on 
the fore part of the body are much longer than the rest, and 
hang over the head; the others are short, as if sheared off, and 
spreading. The head, feet, and belly, are black; the upper 
side of the body is white, sprinkled with black dots, and with 
black transverse lines between the rings. These neat and 
pretty caterpillars, when young, feed in company on the leaves; 
while not engaged in eating, they bend down the head and 
bring over it the long hairs on the fore part of the body; and, 
if disturbed or handled, they readily roll up like the other 
Arctians. When fully grown, they are nearly one inch and a 
half long. They leave the trees in the latter part of September, 
secrete themselves under stones, and in the chinks of walls, 
and make their cocoons, which are oval, thin, and hairy, like 
those of the other Arctians. The chrysalis is short, thick, and 
rather blunt, but not rounded at the hinder end, and not downy. 
The moths, which come out of the cocoons during the month 
of June, are of a very light ochre-yellow color; the fore wings 
are long, rather narrow, and almost pointed, are thickly and 
finely sprinkled with little brown dots, and have two oblique 
brownish streaks passing backwards from the front edge, with 
three rows of white semitransparent spots parallel to the outer 



LEPIDOPTERA. 279 

hind margin ; the hind wings are very thin, semitransparent, 
and without spots; and the shoulder-covers are edged within 
with light brown. They expand from one inch and seven 
eighths to two inches and a quarter or more. The wings are 
roofed when at rest; the antennae are long, with a double, 
narrow, feathery edging, in the males, and a double row of 
short, slender teeth on the under side, in the females; the 
feelers are longer than in the other Arctians, and not at all 
hairy; and the tongue is short, but spirally curled. This kind 
of moth does not appear to have been described before, and it 
cannot be placed in any of the modern genera belonging to 
the Arctians; for this reason I propose to call it Lophocampa 
Caryce; the first name meaning crested caterpillar, and the 
second being the scientific name of the hickory, on which it 
lives. In England, the moths, that come from caterpillars 
having long pencils and tufts on their backs, are called tussock- 
moths; we may name the one under consideration the hickory 
tussock-moth. 

In August and September I have seen on the black walnut, 
the butternut, the ash, and even on the oak, caterpillars ex- 
actly resembling the foregoing in shape, but differing in color, 
being covered, when young, with brownish yellow tufts, of a 
darker color on the ridge of the back, and having four long 
white and two black pencils extending over the head from 
the second ring, and two black pencils on the eleventh ring; 
when they are fully grown they are covered with ash-colored 
tufts, those on the ridge blackish; the head is black, the 
body black or greenish black above, and whitish beneath, 
and the legs are rust-yellow. This is evidently a different 
species or kind from the hickory tussock, being differently 
colored, and having the two hindmost pencils placed on the 
eleventh and not on the tenth ring. I have not yet succeeded 
in keeping these caterpillars alive until they had finished their 
transformations. 

In my collection are specimens of a moth closely resembling 
the hickory tussock in every thing except size and color. It 
may be named Lophocampa maculata^ the spotted tussock-moth. 
It is of a light ochre-yellow color, with large irregular light 



280 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

brown spots on the fore wings, arranged almost in transverse 
bands. It expands nearly one inch and three quarters. The 
caterpillar, as far as I can judge from a shrivelled specimen, 
was covered with whitish tufts forming a crest on the back, 
in which were situated eight black tufts; there was a black 
pencil on each side of the fourth and of the tenth ring, and a 
quantity of long white hairs overhanging the head and the 
hinder extremity; the head was black; but the color of the 
body cannot be ascertained. 

A fourth kind of Lophocampa, or crested caterpillar, remains 
to be described. It is very common, throughout the United 
States, on the button-wood or sycamore, upon which it may 
be seen in great numbers in July and August. The tufts on 
these caterpillars are light yellow or straw-colored, the crest 
being very little darker; on the second and third rings are two 
orange-colored pencils, which are stretched over the head when 
the insect is at rest, and before these are several long tufts of 
white hairs; on each side of the third ring is a white pencil, 
and there are two pencils, of the same color, directed back- 
wards, on the eleventh ring. The body is yellowish white, 
with dusky warts, and the head is brownish yellow. These 
caterpillars leave the trees towards the end of August, and 
conceal themselves in crevices of fences, and under stones, 
and make their cocoons, which resemble those of the hickory 
tussock; and from the middle of June to the end of July the 
moths come forth. These moths are faintly tinged with ochre- 
yellow; their long, narrow, delicate, and semitransparent wings 
lie almost flatly on the top of the back; the upper pair are 
checkered with dusky spots, arranged so as to form five irregu- 
lar transverse bands; the hind edge of the collar, and the inner 
edges of the shoulder-covers are greenish blue, and between 
the latter are two short and narrow deep yellow stripes; the 
upper side of the abdomen and of the legs are deep ochre- 
yellow. The wings expand about two inches. The name of 
this beautiful and delicate moth is Lophocampa tessellaris, the 
checkered tussock-moth. It is figured and described in Smith 
and Abbot's " Insects of Georgia," where, however, the cater- 
pillar is not correctly represented. Mr. Abbot's figure of the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 281 

caterpillar has been copied in the illustrations accompanying 
Cuvier's last edition of the " Regne Animal," and is there 
referred to Latreille's genus Sericaria. This includes, besides 
various other insects having no resemblance to the foregoing, 
the true tussock caterpillars belonging to the next group ; but 
from these the caterpillars of all the kinds of Lophocampa differ 
essentially in being much more hairy, in not having the warts 
on the sides of the first ring longer than the rest, and in being 
destitute of the little retractile vesicles on the top of the ninth 
and tenth rings; moreover their chrysalids are not covered 
with short hairs in clusters or ridges. On the other hand they 
agree with the Arctians in being covered with warts and 
spreading bunches of hairs, in rolling up like a ball when 
handled, and in the form and structure of their cocoons. The 
position of the wings of the checkered tussock-moth, when at 
rest, is almost exactly like that of some of the Lithosians; but 
the other kinds of Lophocampa do not cross the inner edges 
of the wings; and the bodies of all of them are much thicker 
and more robust than those of the Lithosians. 

The third group or family of Bombyces may be called Li- 
parians (Liparid.e*). Of the moths bearing this name, the 
females have remarkably thick bodies, and are sometimes des- 
titute of wings, while the males are generally slender, and 
have rather broad wings. Their feelers are very hairy, and for 
the most part are rather longer than those of the Arctians. 
Their tongues are very short, and invisible or concealed. 
Their antennse are short, and bent like a bow, and doubly 
feathered on the under side, the feathering of those of the 
males being very wide, and of the females mostly narrow. 
When at rest, these moths stretch out their hairy fore legs 
before their bodies, and keep their upper and lower wings 
together over their backs, sloping a very little at the sides, 
and covering the abdomen like a low or flattened roof. The 
females, even of those kinds that are provided with wings, are 

* From Liparis, more properly Lijjarus, the name of a genus of moths, belong- 
ing to this group. This name means fat or gross, and was probably assigned to 
the genus on account of the thickness of the bodies of some of these moths. 

36 



282 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

very sluggish and heavy in their motions, and seldom go far 
from their cocoons ; the males frequently fly by day in search 
of their mates. The caterpillars of most of the Liparians are 
half naked, their thin hairs growing chiefly on the sides of 
their bodies; the warts which furnish them being only six or 
eight* in nvimber on each ring; and they have two little soft 
and reddish warts (one on the top of the ninth, and the other 
on the tenth ring), which can be drawn in and out at pleasure. , 
Some of them have four or five short and thick tufts, cut off I 
square at the ends, on the top of the back, two long and slender 
pencils of hairs extending forwards, like antennae, from the first 
ring, sometimes two more pencils on the fifth ring, and a single i 
pencil on the top of the eleventh ring. The warts which pro- • 
duce these pencils are more prominent or longer than the rest. . 
These caterpillars are called tussocks in England, from the 
tufts on their backs. They live upon trees and shrubs, and, , 
when at rest, they bend down the head, and bring over it the 
long plume-like pencils of the first ring. Their cocoons are 
large, thin, and flattened, and consist of a soft kind of silk, , 
intermixed with which are a few hairs. The chrysalids are • 
covered with down or short hairs, and end at the tail with a i 
long projecting point. In Europe there are many kinds off 
Liparians, some of them at times exceedingly injurious to ) 
vegetation, their caterpillars devouring the leaves of fruit-trees, , 
and not unfrequently extending their devastations to the hedges, , 
and even to the corn and grass.f There do not appear to be ; 
many kinds in the United States, and they never swarm to > 
the same extent as in Europe. 

During the months of July and August, there may be found 1 
on apple-trees and rose-bushes, and sometimes on other trees 
and shrubs, little slender caterpillars of a bright yellow color, , 



* The Arctians have ten or more warts on each ring, 

t These destructive kinds are the caterpillars of the brown-tailed moth (For- 
thesia auriflua), of the goldcn-tailcd moth {Porthesia chrysorrhcea), of the gipsey- 
moth {Hypogymna cUspar), and of the black arches-moth {Psilura monacha). The 
first of these abounded to such an extent in England, in the j^ear 1782, that 
prayers were ordered to be read in all the churches, to avert the destruction 
■which was anticipated from them. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 283 

sparingly clothed with long and fine yellow hairs on the sides 
of the body, and having four short and thick brush-like yel- 
lowish tufts on the back, that is on the fourth and three follow- 
ing rings, two long black plumes or pencils extending forwards 
from the first ring, and a single plume on the top of the eleventh 
ring. The head, and the two little retractile warts on the ninth 
and tenth rings are coral red ; there is a narrow black or brown- 
ish stripe along the top of the back, and a wider dusky stripe 
on each side of the body. These pretty caterpillars do not 
ordinarily herd together, but sometimes our apple-trees are 
much infested by them, as was the case in the summer of 
1828. In the summers of 1848, 1849, and 1850, they were 
very numerous on trees in Boston, both in private yards and 
on the Common, where the horsechestnuts, which seem ordi- 
narily to escape the attacks of insects, were almost entirely 
stripped of their leaves by these insects. When they have 
done eating, they spin their cocoons on the leaves, or on the 
branches or trunks of the trees, or on fences in the vicinity. 
The chrysalis is not only beset with little hairs or down, but 
has three oval clusters of branny scales on the back. In about 
eleven days after the change to the chrysalis is effected, the 
last transformation follows, and the insects come forth in the 
adult state, the females wingless, and the males with large 
ashen gray wings, crossed by wavy darker bands on the upper 
pair, on which, moreover, is a small black spot near the tip, 
and a minute white crescent near the outer hind angle. The 
body of the male is small and slender, with a row of 'little 
tufts along the back, and the wings expand one inch and three 
eighths. The females are of a lighter gray color than the 
males, their bodies are very thick, and of an oblong oval shape, 
and, though seemingly wingless, upon close examination two 
little scales, or stinted winglets, can be discovered on each 
shoulder. These females lay their eggs upon the top of their 
cocoons, and cover them with a large quantity of frothy mat- 
ter, which, on drying, becomes white and brittle. Different 
broods of these insects appear at various times in the course 
of the summer, but the greater number come to maturity and 
lay their eggs in the latter part of August, and the beginning 



284 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of September; and these eggs are not hatched till the follow- 
ing summer. The name of this moth is Orgyia* leucostigmay 
the white-marked Orgyia or tussock-moth. It is to the eggs 
of this insect that the late Mr. B. H. Ives, of Salem, alludes, 
in an article on "insects which infest trees and plants," pub- 
lished in Hovey's "Gardener's Magazine."! Mr. Ives states, 
that on passing through an apple orchard in February, he 
" perceived nearly all the trees speckled with occasional dead 
leaves, adhering so firmly to the branches as to require consid- 
erable force to dislodge them. Each leaf covered a small 
patch of from one to two hundred eggs, united together, as 
well as to the leaf, by a gummy and silken fibre, peculiar to 
the moth." In March, he " visited the same orchard, and, as 
an experiment, cleared three trees, from which he took twenty- 
one bunches of eggs. The remainder of the trees he left 
untouched until the tenth of May, when he found the cater- 
pillars were hatched from the egg, and had commenced their 
slow but sure ravages. He watched them from time to time, 
until many branches had been spoiled of their leaves, and in 
the autumn were entirely destitute of fruit; while the three 
trees, which had been stripped of the eggs, were flush with 
foliage, each limb without exception, ripening its fruit." These 
pertinent remarks point out the nature and extent of the evil, 
and suggest the proper remedy to be used against the ravages 
of these insects. 

In the New England States there is found a tussock or 
vaporer moth, seemingly the same as the Orgyia antiqua, the 
antique or rusty vaporer-moth of Europe, from whence possi- 
bly its eggs may have been brought with imported fruit-trees. 
The male moth is of a rust-brown color, the fore wings are 
crossed by two deeper brown wavy streaks, and have a white 

* This name is derived from a word which signifies to stretch out the hands, 
and it is applied to this kind of moth on account of its resting with the fore legs 
extended. The Germans call these moths streckfiissige Spinner, the French 
pattes itenducs, and the English vaporer-moths, the latter probably because the 
males are seen flying about ostentatiously, or vaporing, by day, when most other 
moths keep concealed. 

t Vol. I., p. 52. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 285 

crescent near the hind angle. They expand about one inch 
and one eighth. The female is gray, and wingless, or with 
only two minute scales on each side in the place of wings, 
and exactly resembles in shape the female of the foregoing 
species. The caterpillar is yellow on the back, on which are 
four short square brush-like yellow tufts; the sides are dusky 
and spotted with red; there are two long black pencils or 
plumes on the first ring, one on each side of the fifth ring, and 
one on the top of the eleventh ring; the head is black; and 
the retractile warts on the top of the ninth and tenth rings are 
red. These caterpillars live on various trees and shrubs, and 
are stated, by Miss iJix, in Professor Silliman's "Journal of 
Science," * to have been " very destructive to the thorn hedges 
in Rhode Island," " appearing very early in summer, and not 
disappearing till late in November," The cocoons resemble 
those of the white-marked vaporer [Orgyia leiicostig-ma), 
and the females, after they have come forth, never leave the 
outside of their cocoons, but lay their eggs upon them and 
die there. 

The next group may be called Lasiocampians (Lasiocam- 
PAD^), after the principal genus f included in it, the name of 
which signifies hairy caterpillar. The Lasiocampians are 
woolly, and very thick-bodied moths, distinguished by the 
want of the bristles and hooks that hold together the fore and 
hind wings of other moths, by the wide and turned-up fore 
edge of the hind wings, which projects beyond that of the fore 
wings when at rest, and by their caterpillars, which (with few 
exceptions) are not warty on the back, and are sparingly 
clothed with short, soft hairs, mostly placed along the sides of 
the body, and seldom distinctly arranged in spreading clusters 
or tufts. These moths fly only by night, and both sexes are 
winged. Their antennae generally bend downwards near the 
middle, and upwards at the points, are longer than those of 



* Vol. XIX., p. 62. 

t To Lasiocampa belong the European moths called Rubi, Trifolii, Quercus, 
Rohoris, Dumeti, &c. I have not seen any insects like these in Massachusetts, 
and believe that such are seldom if ever to be found in the United States. 



286 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the Liparians, but not so widely feathered in the males, and 
very narrowly feathered beneath in the females. The feelers 
of some are rather longer than common, and are thrust forward 
like a beak; but more often they are very short and small. 
The tongue, for the most part, is invisible. Their wings cover 
the back like a steep roof, the under pair, being wider than 
common, are not entirely covered by the upper wings, but pro- 
ject beyond them at the sides of the body when closed. Their 
caterpillars live on trees and shrubs, and some kinds herd to- 
gether in considerable numbers or swarms ; they make their co- 
coons mostly or entirely of silk. The winged insect is assisted 
in its attempts to come forth, after its last change, by a reddish 
colored liquid, which softens the end of its cocoon, and which, 
as some say, is discharged from its own mouth, or, as others 
with greater probability assert, escapes from the inside of the 
chrysalis the moment that the included moth bursts the shell. 

To this group belong the caterpillars that swarm in the un- 
pruned nurseries and neglected orchards of the slovenly and 
improvident husbandman, and hang their many-coated webs 
upon the wild cherry-trees that are suffered to spring up un- 
checked by the wayside and encroach upon the borders of our 
pastures and fields. The eggs, from which they are hatched,, 
are placed around the ends of the branches, forming a wide 
kind of ring or bracelet, consisting of three or four hundred 
eggs, in the form of short cylinders standing on their ends 
close together, and covered with a thick coat of brownish 
water-proof varnish.* The caterpillars come forth, with the 
unfolding of the leaves of the apple and cherry tree, during 
the latter part of April or the beginning of May. The first 
signs of their activity appear in the formation of a little angu- 
lar web or tent, somewhat resembling a spider's web, stretched 
between the forks of the branches a little below the cluster of 
eggs. Under the shelter of these tents, in making which they 
all work together, the caterpillars remain concealed at all times 
when not engaged in eating. In crawling from twig to twig 



* A good figure of a cluster of these eggs may be seen in tlie Boston Cultiva- 
tor, Vol. X., No. 10, for March 4, 1848. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 287 

and from leaf to leaf, they spiri from their mouths a slender 
silken thread, which is a clue to conduct them back to their 
tents ; and as they go forth and return in files, one after an- 
other, their pathways in time become well carpeted with silk, 
which serves to render their footing secure during their fre- 
quent and periodical journeys, in various directions, to and 
from their common habitation. As they increase in age and 
size, they enlarge their tent, surrounding it, from time to time, 
with new layers or webs, till, at length, it acquires a diameter 
of eight or ten inches. They come out together at certain 
stated hours to eat, and all retire at once when their regular 
meals are finished ; during bad weather, however, they fast, 
and do not venture from their shelter. These caterpillars are 
of a kind called lackeys in England, and livries in France, 
from the party-colored livery in which they appear. When 
fully grown they measure about two inches in length. Their 
heads are black ; extending along the top of the back, from 
one end to the other, is a whitish line, on each side of which, 
on a yellow ground, are numerous short and fine crinkled black 
lines, that, lower down, become mingled together, and form a 
broad longitudinal black stripe, or rather a row of long black 
spots, one on each ring, in the middle of each of which is a 
small blue spot ; below this is a narrow wavy yellow line, and 
lower still the sides are variegated with fine intermingled black 
and yellow lines, which are lost at last in the general dusky 
color of the under side of the body ; on the top of the eleventh 
ring is a small blackish and hairy wart, and the whole body is 
very sparingly clothed with short and soft hairs, rather thicker 
and longer upon the sides than elsewhere. The foregoing 
description will serve to show that these insects are not the 
same as either the Neustria* or the campf lackey caterpillars 

* Neusiria, was the ancient name of Normandy, from whence this European 
species was first introduced into England. The Neustria caterpillar has a bluish 
head, on which, as also on the first ring, are two black dots ; the back is tawny- 
red, with a central white, and two black lines from one end to the other ; the 
sides arc blue, with a narrow red stripe ; on the top of the eleventh ring is a 
little blackish wart; and the belly is dusky. 

t The castrensis, or camp-caterpillar, has a narrow broken white line on the 
top of the back, separating two broad red stripes, which are dotted with black ; 



288 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of Europe, for which they have been mistaken. From the first 
to the middle of June they begin to leave the trees upon which 
they have hitherto lived in company, separate from each other, 
wander about awhile, and finally get into some crevice or 
other place of shelter, and make their cocoons. These are of 
a regular long oval form, composed of a thin and very loosely 
woven web of silk, the meshes of which are filled with a thin 
paste, that on drying is changed to a yellow powder, like flour 
of sulphur in appearance. Some of the caterpillars, either 
from weakness or some other cause, do not leave their nests 
with the rest of the swarm, but make their cocoons there, and 
when the webs are opened these cocoons may be seen inter- 
mixed with a mass of blackish grains, like gunpowder, excreted 
by the caterpillars during their stay. From fourteen to seven- 
teen days after the insect has made its cocoon and changed to 
a chrysalis, it bursts its chrysalis-skin, forces its way through 
the wet and softened end of its cocoon, and appears in the 
winged or miller form. Many of them, however, are unable to 
finish their transformations by reason of weakness, especially 
those remaining in the webs. Most of these will be found 
to have been preyed upon by little maggots living upon the fat 
within their bodies, and finally changing to small four-winged 
ichneumon wasps, which in due time pierce a hole in the 
cocoons of their victims, and escape into the air. 

The moth of our American lackey-caterpillar is of a rusty or 
reddish brown color, more or less mingled with gray on the 
middle and base of the fore wings, which, besides, are crossed 
by two oblique, straight, dirty white lines. It expands from 
one inch and a quarter to one inch and a half, or a little more. 
This moth* closely resembles the castrensis, and still more the 



the sides are blue, with two or three narrow red stripes ; the head and first ring 
are not nnarked with black dots; there is no wart on the top of the eleventh 
ring ; and the belly is white, marbled with black. 

* A short but very accurate account of this insect may be found in the late 
Professor Peck's " Natural History of the Canker Worm," printed at Boston, 
among the papers of the " Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture," 
in the year 1796. Professor Peck seems to have been aware that it was not 
identical with the Neusiria, but he forebore to give it another scientific name. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 289 

Neustria of Europe, from both of which, however, it is easily- 
distinguished by the oblique lines on the fore wings, which are 
not wavy as in the foreign species. Moreover, the caterpillar 
is very different from both of the European lackeys ; and it 
does not seem probable that either of them, if introduced into 
this country, could have so wholly lost their original characters. 
Our insect belongs to the same genus, or kind, now called 
Clisiocampa, or tent-caterpillar, from its habits ; and I propose 
to distinguish it furthermore from its near allies by the name 
of Americana, the American tent-caterpillar or lackey. The 
moths appear in great numbers in July, flying about and often 
entering houses by night. At this time they lay their eggs, 
selecting the wild cherry, in preference to all other trees, for 
this purpose, and, next to these, apple-trees, the extensive in- 
troduction and great increase of which, in this country, afford 
an abundant and tempting supply of food to the caterpillars, 
in the place of the native cherry-trees that formerly, it would 
seem, sufficed for their nourishment. These insects, because 
they are the most common and most abundant in all parts of 
our country, and have obtained such notoriety that in common 
language they are almost exclusively known among us by the 
name of the caterpillars, are the worst enemies of the orchard. 
Where proper attention has not been paid to the destruction 
of them, they prevail to such an extent as almost entirely to 
strip tiie apple and cherry trees of their foliage, by their attacks 
continued during the seven weeks of their life in the caterpillar 
form. The trees, in those orchards and gardens where they 
have been suffered to breed for a succession of years, become 
prematurely old, in consequence of the efforts they are obliged 
to make to repair, at an unseasonable time, the loss of their 
foliage, and are rendered unfruitful, and consequently unprofit- 
able. But this is not all ; these pernicious insects spread in 
every direction, from the trees of the careless and indolent, to 
those of their more careful and industrious neighbors, whose 

It is figured, in its different forms, in Mr. Abbot's "Natural History of the In- 
sects of Georgia," where it is named castrensis, by Sir J. E. Smith, the editor of 
the work. 

37 



290 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

labors are thereby greatly increased, and have to be followed 
up year after year, without any prospect of permanent relief. 

Many methods and receipts for the destruction of these in- 
sects have been published and recommended, but have failed 
to exterminate them, and indeed have done but little to lessen 
their numbers, as, indeed, might be expected from the tenor of 
the foregoing remarks. In order to be completely successful 
they must be universally adopted. These means comprehend 
both the destruction of the eggs and of the caterpillars. The 
eggs are to be sought for in the winter and the early part of 
spring, when there are no leaves on the trees. They are easily 
discovered at this time, and may be removed with the thumb 
nail and fore finger. Nurseries and the lower limbs of large 
trees may thus be entirely cleared of the clusters of eggs during 
a few visits made at the proper season. It is well known that the 
caterpillars come out to feed twice daring the daytime, namely, 
in the forenoon and afternoon, and that they rarely leave their 
nests before nine in the morning, and return to them again at 
noon. During the early part of the season, while the nests are 
small, and the caterpillars young and tender, and at those hours 
w^hen the insects are gathered together within their common 
habitation, they may be effectually destroyed by crushing them 
by hand in the nests. A brush, somewhat like a bottle-brush, 
fixed to a long handle, as recommended by the late Colonel 
Pickering, or, for the want thereof, a dried mullein head and 
its stalk fastened to a pole, will be useful to remove the nests, 
with the caterpillars contained therein, from those branches 
which are too high to be reached by hand. Instead of the 
brush, we may use, with nearly equal success, a small mop or 
sponge, dipped as often as necessary into a pailful of refuse 
soapsuds, strong whitewash, or cheap oil. The mop should 
be thrust into the nest and turned round a little, so as to wet 
the caterpillars with the liquid, which will kill every one that 
it touches. These means, to be effectual, should be employed 
during the proper hours, that is, early in the morning, at mid- 
day, or at night, and as soon in the spring as the caterpillars 
begin to m.ake their nests ; and they should be repeated as 
often, at least, as once a week, till the insects leave the trees. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 291 

Early attention and perseverance in the use of these remedies 
will, in time, save the farmer hundreds of dollars, and abun- 
dance of mortification and disappointment, besides rewarding 
him with the grateful sight of the verdant foliage, snowy blos- 
soms, and rich fruits of his orchard in their proper seasons. 

Another caterpillar, whose habits are similar to those of the 
preceding, is now and then met with, in Massachusetts, upon 
oak and walnut trees, and more rarely still upon apple-trees, 
and cherry-trees. According to Mi: Abbot " it is sometimes 
so plentiful in Virginia as to strip the oak-trees bare ;" and I 
may add that it occasionally proves very injurious to orchards 
in Maine. It may be called C/isiocampa silvatica, the tent- 
caterpillar of the forest. With us it comes to its full size from 
the tenth to the twentieth of June, and then measures about 
two inches in length. There are a few short yellow hairs scat- 
tered over its body, particularly on the sides, where they are 
thickest. The general color of the whole body is light blue, clear 
on the back, and greenish at the sides ; the head is blue, and 
without spots ; there are two yellow spots, and four black dots 
on the top of the first ring ; along the top of the back is a row 
of eleven oval white spots, beginning on the second ring, and 
two small elevated black and hairy dots on each ring, except 
the eleventh, which has only one of larger size ; on each side 
of the back is a reddish stripe bordered by slender black lines ; 
and lower down on each side is another stripe of a yellow 
color between two black lines ; the under side of the body is 
blue-black. This kind of caterpillar lives in communities of 
three or four hundred individuals under a common web or 
tent, which is made against the trunk or beneath some of the 
principal branches of the trees. When fully grown they leave 
the trees, get into places sheltered from rain, and make their 
cocoons, which exactly resemble those of the apple-tree tent- 
caterpillars in form, size, and materials. The moths appear in 
sixteen or twenty days afterwards. They are of a brownish 
yellow or nankin color; the hind wings, except at base, are 
light rusty brown ; and on the fore wings are two oblique rust- 
brown and nearly straight parallel lines. A variety is some- 
times found with a broad red-brown band across the fore 



292 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

wings, occupying the whole space, which, in other individuals, 
intervenes between the oblique lines. The wings expand from 
one inch and one quarter to one inch and three quarters. The 
great difference in the caterpillar will not permit us to refer this 
species to the Neustria of Europe, for which Sir J. E. Smith* 
mistook it, or to the castrensis, which it more closely resembles 
in its winged form. 

Most caterpillars are round, that is, cylindrical, or nearly so ; 
but there are some belonging to this group that are very broad, 
slightly convex above, and perfectly flat beneath. They seem 
indeed to be much broader and more flattened than they really 
are, by reason of the hairs on their sides, which spread out so 
as nearly to conceal the feet, and form a kind of fringe along 
each side of the body. These hairs grow mostly from hori- 
zontal fleshy appendages or long warts, somewhat like legs, 
hanging from the sides of every ring; those on the first ring 
being much longer than the others, which progressively de- 
crease in size to the last. On the fore part of the body one or 
two velvet-like and highly colored bands may be seen when 
the caterpillar is in motion ; and on the top of the eleventh 
ring there is generally a long naked wart. When these singu- 
lar caterpillars are not eating, they remain at rest, stretched out 
on the limbs of trees, and they often so nearly resemble the 
bark in color as to escape observation. From the lappets, or 
leg-like appendages, hanging to their sides, they are called 
lappet-caterpillars by English writers. 

Twice I have found, on the apple-tree, in the month of Sep- 
tember, caterpillars of this kind, measuring, when fully grown, 
two inches and a half in length, and above half an inch in 
breadth. The upper side was gray, variegated with irregular 
white spots, and sprinkled all over with fine black dots ; on 
the forepart of the body there were two transverse velvet-like 
bands of a rich scarlet color, one on the hind part of the second, 
and the other on the third ring, and on each of these bands 
were three black dots ; the under side of the body was orange- 
colored, with a row of diamond-shaped black spots ; the hairs 

* See Abbot's " Insects of Georgia," where it is figured. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 293 

on the sides were gray, and many of them were tipped with a 
white knob. The caterpillar eats the leaves of the apple-tree, 
feeding only in the night, and remaining perfectly quiet during 
the day. The moth produced from it was supposed by Sir J. 
E. Smith* to be the same as the European IHcifoIia, or holly- 
leaved lappet-moth, from which, however, it differs in so many 
respects that I shall venture to give it another name. It 
belongs to the genus Gastropaclia, so called from the very 
thick bodies of the moths ; and the present species may be 
named Americana, the American lappet-moth. Were it not 
for its regular shape, it might, when at rest, very easily be 
mistaken for a dry, brown, and crumpled leaf. The feelers 
are somewhat prominent like a short beak; the edges of the 
under wings are very much notched, as are the hinder and 
inner edges of the fore wings, and these notches are \vhite ; its 
general color is a red-brown ; behind the middle of each of the 
wings is a pale band, edged with zigzag dark brown lines, and 
there are also two or three short irregular brown lines running 
backwards from the front edge of the fore wings, besides a 
minute pale crescent, edged with dark brown, near the middle 
of the same. In the females the pale bands and dark lines are 
sometimes wanting, the wings being almost entirely of a red- 
brown color. It expands from one inch and a half to nearly 
two inches. Mr. Abbot, who has figured it, states that the 
caterpillar lives on the oak and the ash, that it spun itself up 
in May among the leaves in a gray -brown cocoon, in which 
the chrysalis was enveloped with a pale brown powder, and 
that the moth came out in February. ]My specimens, on the 
contrary, as above stated, were found on apple-trees, made 
their cocoons in the autumn, and appeared in the winged form 
in the early part of the following summer. 

The foregoing is the only American lappet-moth, with 
notched wings, which is known to me ; but we have another 
much larger one, with entire wings. It is the Velleda of Stoll, 
so named after a celebrated German female, commemorated 
by the ancient historian Tacitus. This moth has a very large, 

* See Abbot's "Insects of Georgia," p. 101, pi. 51. 



294 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

thick, and woolly body, and is of a white color, variegated or 
clouded with blue-gray. On the fore wings are two broad 
dark gray bands, intervening between three narrow wavy 
white bands, the latter being marked by an irregular gray line; 
the veins are white, prominent, and very distinct; the hind 
wings are gray, with a white hind border, on which are two 
interruj^ted gray lines, and across the middle there is a broad, 
faint, whitish band ; on the top of the thorax is an oblong 
blackish spot, widening behind, and consisting of long black 
and pearl-colored erect scales, shaped somewhat like the 
handle of a spoon. There is a great disparity in the size of 
the sexes, the males measuring only from one inch and a half 
to one inch and three quarters across the wings, while the 
females expand from two and a quarter to two inches and 
three quarters or more. The caterpillar of this fine moth I 
have never seen alive ; but one was sent to me, in the autumn 
of 1828, by the late T. G. Fessenden, Esq., who received it 
from Newburyport, from a correspondent, by whom it was 
found on the fifth of August, sticking so fast to the limb of an 
apple-tree, that at first it was mistaken for a cankered spot on 
the bark.* It was said to have measured two inches and a 
half in length, but when it came into my hands it had spun 
itself up in its cocoon. A caterpillar of the same kind, found 
also on an apple-tree, has been described by Miss Dix in Pro- 
fessor Silliman's "Journal of Science." f This observing lady 
states, that " when at rest the resemblance of its upper surface 
was so exact with the young bark of the branch on which it 
was fixed, that its presence might have escaped the most 
accurate investigation ; and this deception was the more com- 
plete from the unusual shape of the caterpillar, which might 
be likened to the external third of a cylinder. The sides of 
the body were cloaked and fringed with hairs. It was of a 
pale sea-green color above, marked with ash, blended into 
white ; and beneath of a brilliant orange, spotted with vivid 
black. When in motion its whole appearance was changed, 



* See "New England Farmer," Vol. VII., p. 33. 
t Vol. XIX., pp. 62 and 63. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 295 

it extended to the length of two inches, and two thirds of an 
inch in breadth, its colors brightened, and a transverse opening 
was disclosed on the back, two thirds of an inch from the 
head, of a most rich velvet black color. It was sluggish and 
motionless during the day, and active only at night." Mi\ 
Abbot found the caterpillar of the Velleda lappet-moth on the 
willow-oak, and on the persimmon ; and, in his figure, it is 
represented of a dark ashen gray color, with a velvet-like black 
band across the upper part of the third ring.* The cocoon of 
the specimen sent to me by Mr. Fessenden, resembled grocers' 
soft brownish gray paper in color and texture, with a very few 
blackish hairs interwoven with the silk of which it was made. 
It was an inch and a half long, and half an inch wide, bordered 
on all sides by a loose web, which made it seem of larger 
dimensions ; its shape was oval, convex above, and perfectly 
flat and very thin on the under side. The moth came forth 
from this cocoon on the fifteenth of September, or about forty 
days after the cocoon was spun. 

The Chinese silk-worm and its moth, Bomhyx morij the 
Bombyx of the mulberry, should follow these insects in a 
natural arrangement; for the former is slightly hairy when first 
hatched from the egg, and, though naked afterwards, it has, 
like the lappet-caterpillars, a long fleshy wart on the top of the 
eleventh ring. The history of the silk-worm, however, does 
not belong to the subject of this treatise. 

There are several kinds of caterpillars in the United States, 
whose cocoons are wholly made of a very strong and durable 
sill^, fully equal to that obtained in India from the tusseh and 
arrindy silk worms. These insects, together with sOme others, 
whose cocoons are much thinner, and consist more of gummy 
matter than of silk, belong to a family called Saturnians 
(SATURNiADiE), from Satumici, the name of a genus included 
in this group. The caterpillars are naked, are generally short, 
thick, and clumsy, cylindrical, but frequently hunched on the 
back of each ring, especially when at rest, and are furnished 
with a few warts, which are either bristled with little points or 

* "Insects of Georgia," p. 103, pi. 52. 



296 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

very short hairs, or are crowned with sharp and branching 
prickles. They live on trees or shrubby plants, the leaves of 
which they devour; some of them, when young, keep and 
feed together in swarms, but separate as they become older. 
When fully grown and ready to make their cocoons, some of 
them draw together a few leaves so as to form a hollow, within 
which they spin their cocoons; others fasten their cocoons to 
the stems or branches of plants often in the most artful and 
ingenious manner; and a very few transform upon or just 
under the surface of the ground, where they cover themselves 
with leaves or grains of earth stuck together with a little 
gummy matter. The escape of the moth from its cocoon is 
rendered easy by the fluid which is thrown out and softens 
the threads. The chrysalis offers no striking peculiarities, 
being smooth, not hairy, and not provided with transverse 
notched ridges. This group contains some of the largest 
insects of the order ; moths distinguished by great extent and 
breadth of wings, thick and woolly bodies, and antenna) which 
are widely feathered on both sides, from one end to the other, 
in the males at least, and often in both sexes. The tongue 
and feelers are extremely short and rarely visible. The wings 
are generally spread out, when at rest, so as to display both 
pairs, and they are held either horizontally, or more or less 
elevated above the body ; a very few, however, tm-n the fore 
wings back, so as to cover the hind wings and the body in 
repose. There are no bristles and hooks to keep the fore and 
hind wings together. In the middle of each wing there is 
generally a conspicuous spot of a different color from the rest 
of the surface, often like the eye-spot on peacocks' feathers, 
sometimes with a transparent space like talc or isinglass in 
the middle, and sometimes kidney-shaped and opake. These 
moths commonly fly towards the close of the day, and in the 
evening twilight. Their eggs are very numerous, amounting 
to several hundreds from a single individual. 

Although the injuries committed by the caterpillars of the 
Saturnians, are by no means, very great, the magnitude and 
beauty of the moths render them very conspicuous and worthy 
of notice. The largest kinds belong to that division of the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 297 

Bombyces called Atlacus by Linnaeus. They are distinguished 
from the rest of the Saturnians by having wide and flat anten- 
nae, like short oval feathers, in both sexes, and by the fleshy 
warts on the backs of their caterpillars, which are richly colored, 
and tipped with minute bristles. Preeminent above all our 
moths, in queenly beauty, is the Attacus Lvna, or Luna-moth, 
its specific name being the same as that given by the Romans 
to the moon, poetically styled " fair empress of the night." 
The wings of this fine insect are of a delicate light green color, 
and the hinder angle of the posterior wings is prolonged, so as 
to form a tail to each, of an inch and a half or more in length; 
there is a broad purple-brown stripe along the front edge of the 
fore wings, extending also across the thorax, and sending back- 
wards a little branch to an eye-like spot near the middle of the 
wing; these eye-spots, of which there is one on each of the 
wings, are transparent in the centre, and are encircled by rings 
of white, red, yellow, and black ; the hinder borders of the 
wings are more or less edged or scalloped with purple-brown ; 
the body is covered with a white kind of wool ; the antennae 
are ochre-yellow; and the legs are purple-brown. The wings 
expand from four inches and three quarters to five inches and 
a half. The caterpillar of this moth lives on the walnut and 
hickory, on which it may be found, fully grown, towards the 
end of July and during the month of August. It is of a pale 
and very clear bluish green color ; there is a yellow stripe on 
each side of the body, and the back is crossed, between the 
rings, by transverse lines of the same yellow color ; on each of 
the rings are about six minute pearl-colored warts, tinged with 
purple or rose-red, and furnishing a few little hairs; and at the 
extremity of the body are three brown spots, edged above with 
yellow. When this insect is at rest it is nearly as thick as a 
man's thumb, its rings are hunched, and its body is shortened, 
not measuring, even when fully grown, above two inches in 
length ; but, in motion, it extends to the length of three inches 
or more. When about to make its cocoon, it draws together, 
with silken threads, two or three leaves of the tree, and within 
the hollow thus formed spins an oval and very close and strong 
cocoon, about one inch and three quarters long, and immedi- 
38 



298 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

ately afterwards changes to a chrysalis. The cocoons fall 
from the trees in the autumn with the leaves in which they 
are enveloped; and the moths make their escape from them 
in June. 

A caterpillar, closely resembling that of the Luna-moth, may 
be found on oaks, and sometimes also on elm and lime .trees, 
in August and September. Its sides are not striped with yel- 
low, and there are no transverse yellow bands on the back ; 
the warts have a pearly lustre, more or less tinted with orange, 
rose-red, or purple, and between the two lowermost on the side 
of each ring is an oblique white line ; the head and the feet 
are brown ; and the tail is bordered by a brown V shaped line. 
These caterpillars, in repose, cling to the twigs of the trees, 
with their backs downwards, contract their bodies in length, 
and hunch up the rings even more than those of the Luna- 
moth, which, when fully grown, they somewhat exceed in size. 
They make their cocoons upon the trees in the same manner, 
with an outer covering of leaves, which fall off in the autumn, 
bearing the enclosed tough oval cocoons to the ground, where 
they remain through the winter, and the moths come out in 
the month of June following. Notwithstanding the great sim- 
ilarity of the caterpillar and its cocoon to those of the Luna, 
the moth is entirely different. Its hind wings are not tailed, 
but are cut off almost square at the corners. It is of a dull 
ochre-yello\v color, more or less clouded with black in the mid- 
dle of the wings, on each of which there is a transparent eye- 
like spot, divided transversely by a slender line, and encircled 
by yellow and black rings ; before and adjoining to the eye- 
spot of the hind wings is a large blue spot shading into black; 
near the hinder margin of the wings is a dusky band, edged 
with reddish white behind ; on the front margin of the fore 
wings is a gray stripe, which also crosses the fore part of the 
thorax ; and near the base of the same wings are two short 
red lines, edged with white. It expands from five and a 
quarter to six inches. This moth, on account of its great 
size, is called Polyphemus, the name of one of the giants in 
mythology. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 299 

Attacus Cecropia* is a still larger insect expanding from five 
inches and three quarters to six inches and a half. The hind 
wings are rounded ; and not tailed. The ground-color of the 
wings is a grizzled dusky brown, with the hinder margins clay- 
colored; near the middle of each of the wings there is an opake 
kidney-shaped dull red spot, having a Avhite centre and a nar- 
row black edging; and beyond the spot a wavy dull red band, 
bordered internally with white ; the fore wings, next to the 
shoulders, are dull red, with a curved white band ; and near 
the tips of the same is an eye-like black spot, within a bluish 
white crescent ; the upper side of the body and the legs are 
dull red ; the fore part of the thorax and the hinder edges of 
the rings of the abdomen are white; and the belly is checkered 
with red and white. This moth makes its appearance during 
the month of June. The caterpillar is found on apple, cherry 
and plum trees, and on currant and barberry bushes in July 
and August. When young, it is of a deep yellow color, with 
rows of minute black warts on its back. It comes to its fvill 
size by the first of September, and then measures three inches, 
or more, in length, and is thicker than a man's thumb. It is 
then entirely of a fine, clear, light green color ; on the top of 
the second ring are two large globular coral-red warts, beset 
with about fourteen very short black bristles ; the two warts 
on the top of the thu'd ring are like those on the second, but 
rather larger ; on the top of the seven following rings there are 
two very long egg-shaped yellow warts, bristled at the end, 
and a single wart of larger size on the eleventh ring ; on each 
side of the body there are two longitudinal rows of long light 
blue warts, bristled at the end, and an additional short row, 
below them, along the first five rings. This caterpillar does 
not bear confinement well ; but it may be seen spinning its 
cocoon, early in September, on the twigs of the trees or bushes 
on which it lives. The cocoon is fastened longitudinally to 
the side of a twig. It is, on an average, three inches long, and 
one inch in diameter at the widest part. Its shape is an ob- 



* Cecropia was the ancient name of the city of Athens ; its application, by 
Linnaeus, to this moth is inexplicable. 



300 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. j 

long oval, pointed at the upper end. It is double, the outer 
coat being wrinkled, and resembling strong brown paper in 
color and thickness ; when this tough outer coat is cut open, 
the inside will be seen to be lined with a quantity of loose 
yellow-brown strong silk, surrounding an inner oval cocoon, 
composed of the same kind of silk, and closely woven like that 
of the silk-worm. The insect remains in the chrysalis form 
through the winter. The moth, which comes forth in the fol- 
lowing summer, would not be able to pierce the inner cocoon, 
were it not for the fluid provided for the purpose of softening 
the threads ; but it easily forces its way through the outer 
cocoon at the small end, which is more loosely woven than 
elsewhere, and the threads of which converge again, by their 
own elasticity, so as almost entirely to close the opening after 
the insect has escaped. 

A few brown and curled leaves may frequently be seen 
hanging upon sassafras-trees during the winter, when all the 
other leaves have fallen off. If one of these leaves is exam- 
ined, it will be found to be retained by a quantity of silken 
thread, which is wound or woolded round the twig to the dis- 
tance of half an inch or more on each side of the leaf-stalk, 
and is thence carried downwards around the stalk to an oval 
cocoon, that is wrapped up by the sides of the leaf. The 
cocoon itself is about an inch long, of a regular oval shape, 
and is double, like that of the Cecropia caterpillar, but the 
outer coat is not loose and wrinkled, and the space between 
the outer and inner coats is small and does not contain much 
floss silk. So strong is the coating of silk that surrounds the 
leaf-stalk, and connects the cocoon with the branch, th^t it 
cannot be severed without great force; and consequently the 
chrysalis swings securely within its leaf-covered hammock 
through all the storms of winter. Cocoons of the same kind 
are sometimes found suspended to the twigs of the wild cherry- 
tree, the Azalea, or swamp-pink, and the Cephalanthus, or 
button-bush, but not so often as on the sassafras-tree. Two of 
them, hanging close together on one twig, were once brought 
to me, and a male and a female moth were produced from 
these twin cocoons in July, the usual time for these insects to 



LEPIDOPTERA. 301 

leave their winter quarters. Drury called this kind of moth 
Promelhea, a mistake probably for Prometheus* the name of 
one of the Titans, all of whom were fabled to be of gigantic 
size. The color of Attacus PrometJiea ditlers according to the 
sex. The male is of a deep smoky brown color on the upper 
side, and the female light reddish brown; in both, the wings 
are crossed by a wavy whitish line near the middle, and have 
a wide clay-colored border, which is marked by a wavy reddish 
line; near the tips of the fore wings there is an eye-like black 
spot within a bluish white crescent; near the middle of each 
of the wings of the female there is an angular reddish white 
spot, edged with black ; these angular spots are visible on the 
under side of the wings of the male, but are rarely seen on 
their upper side; the hind wings in both are rounded and not 
tailed. These moths expand from three inches and three quar- 
ters to four inches and a quarter. The female deposits her 
eggs on the twigs of the trees, in little clusters of five or six 
together, and these are hatched towards the end of July or 
early in August. The caterpillars usually come to their full 
size by the beginning of September, and then measure two 
inches or more in length, when extended, and about half an 
inch in diameter. The body of the caterpillar is very plump, 
and but very little contracted on the back between the rings. 
It is of a clear and pale bluish green color; the head, the feet, 
and the tail are yellow; there are about eight warts on each 
of the rings; the two uppermost warts on the top of the second 
and of the third rings are almost cylindrical, much longer than 
the rest, and of a rich coral-red color; there is a long yellow 
wart on the top of the eleventh ring; all the rest of the warts 
are very small, and of a deep blue color. Before making its 
cocoon the caterpillar instinctively fastens to the branch the 
leaf that is to serve for a cover to its cocoon, so that it shall 
not fall off in the autumn, and then proceeds to spin on the 
upper side of the leaf, bending over the edges to form a hol- 
low, within which its cocoon is concealed. 



* Atlas was the brother of Prometheus, and this name, it will be recollected, 
has been given to another of the Bombyces, an immensely large moth from China. 



302 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The Luna, Polyphemus, Cecropia, and Promethea moths, 
are the only native insects belonging to the genus Attacus 
which are known to me. Their large cocoons, consisting 
entirely of silk, the fibres of which far surpass those of the 
silk-worm in strength, might perhaps be employed in the for- 
mation of fabrics similar to those manufactured in India from 
the cocoons of the tusseh and arrindy silk worms, the dura- 
bility of which is such, that a garment of tusseh silk "is 
scarcely worn out in the lifetime of one person, but often 
descends from mother to daughter; and even the covers of 
palanquins made of it, though exposed to the influence of the 
weather, last many years." The method, employed by the 
inhabitants of India for unwinding the cocoons of their native 
silk-worms, would probably apply equally well to those of our 
country, which have not yet, that I am aware of, been sub- 
mitted to the same process. It is true that experiments, upon 
a very limited scale, have been made with the silk of the 
Cecropia, which has been carded and spun and woven into 
stockings, that are said to wash like linen. The Rev. Samuel 
PuUein was among the first to attempt to unwind the cocoons 
of the Cecropia moth, an account of which is contained in the 
" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London," 
for the year 1759.* Mr. PuUein ascertained that twenty threads 
of this silk twisted together would sustain nearly an ounce 
more in weight than the same number of common silk. Mr. 
Moses Bartram, of Philadelphia, in the year 1767, succeeded 
in bringing up the caterpillars from the eggs of the Cecropia 
moth, and obtained several cocoons from them.f In the Paris 
"Journal des Debats," of the twenty-third of July, 1840, is an 
account of the complete success of Mr. Audouin, in rearing 
the caterpillars of this or of some other American species of 
Attacus, the cocoons of which were sent to him from New 
Orleans. The Cecropia does not bear confinement well, and 
is not so good a subject for experiment as the Luna and Poly- 



* Vol. LL, p. 54. 

t See " Transactions of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia," 
Vol. I., p. 294. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 303 

phemus, which are easily reared, and, make their cocoons quite 
as well in the house as in the open air. The following circum- 
stances seem particularly to recommend these indigenous silk- 
worms to the attention of persons interested in the silk culture. 
Our native oak and nut trees afford an abundance of food for 
the caterpillars; their cocoons are much heavier than those of 
the silk-worm, and will yield a greater quantity of silk; and, 
as the insects remain unchanged in the chrysalis state from 
September to June, the cocoons may be kept for unwinding at 
any leisure time during the winter. By a careful search, after 
the falling of the leaves in the autumn, a sufficient number of 
cocoons may be found, under the oak and nut trees, with 
which to begin a course of experiments in breeding the insects, 
and in the manufacture of their silk. 

Two more moths, belonging to the family under considera- 
tion, are found in Massachusetts. They may be referred to 
the genus Saturnia* and are distinguished from the foregoing 
by their antennae, which are widely feathered only in the males, 
the feathering being very narrow in the other sex; their cater- 
pillars, moreover, are furnished with small warts crowned with 
long prickles or branching spines. None of the caterpillars 
described in the preceding pages are venomous; all of them 
may be handled with impunity. This is not the case with 
the two following kinds, the prickles of which sting severely. 
The first of these begin to appear by the middle of June, and 
other broods continue to be hatched till the middle of July. 
These caterpillars live on the balsam poplar and the elm, and, 
according to Mr. Abbot, on the dogwood or cornel, and the 
sassafras; they feed well also on the leaves of clover and 
Indian corn. They are of a pea-green color, with a broad 
brown stripe edged below with white on each side of the body, 
beginning on the fourth ring and ending at the tail; they are 
covered with spreading clusters of green prickles, tipped with 
black, and of a uniform length ; each of these clusters consists 
of about thirty prickles branching from a common centre, and 
there are six clusters on each of the rings except the last two, 

* The surname of Juno, the daughter of Saturn. 



304 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

on which there are only five, and on the first four rings, on 
each of which there is an additional cluster low down on each 
side ; the feet are brown, and there is a triangular brown spot 
on the under side of each ring, beginning with the fourth. 
The prickles are exceedingly sharp, sting very severely when 
the insect is handled, and produce the same kind of irritation 
as those of the nettle. When young, these caterpillars keep 
together in little swarms. They do not spin a common web, 
but, when not eating, they creep under a leaf, where they 
cluster side by side. In going from or returning to their place 
of shelter they move in regular files, like the processionary 
caterpillars {Lasiocampa processionea) of Europe, a single 
caterpillar taking the lead, and followed closely by perhaps 
one or two in single file, after which come two, side by side, 
close upon the heels of these creep three more, the next rank 
consists of four, and so on, the ranks continually widening 
behind, like a flock of wild geese on the wing, but in perfectly 
regular order. When about half grown they disperse, and 
each one shirks for himself. At the age of eight weeks they 
get to their full size, in the meanwhile moulting their skins 
four times, and finally measure two inches and a half or more 
in length. At this age they leave off eating, crawl to the 
ground, and get under leaves or rubbish, which they draw 
round their bodies to form an outer covering, within which 
they make an irregular and thin cocoon, of very gummy brown 
silk, that has almost the texture of thin parchment. As soon 
as their cocoons are finished, the insects are changed to chry- 
salids, in which form they remain throughout the winter, and 
in the following summer, during the month of June, or begin- 
ning of July, they come out in the winged or moth state. 
The scientific name of these moths is Saturnia lo* Unlike 
those of the genus AUacus, they sit with their wings closed, 
and covering the body like a low roof, the front edge of the 
under wings extending a little beyond that of the upper wings, 
and curving upwards. The two sexes differ both in color and 

* lo, a priestess of Juno, in Greece, afterwards became the wife of Osiris, the 
king of Egypt, and received divine honors under the name of Isis. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 305 

size. The male, which is the smallest, is of a deep or Indian 
yellow color; on its fore wings there are two oblique wavy- 
lines towards the hind margin, a zigzag line near the base, and 
several spots so arranged on the middle as to form the letters 
A H, all of a purplish red color; the hind wings are broadly 
bordered with purplish red next to the body, and near the 
hinder margin there is a narrow curved band of the same color; 
within this band there is a curved black line, and on the middle 
of the wing a large round blue spot, having a broad black 
border and a central white dash. The fore wings of the female 
are purple-brown, mingled with gray; the zigzag and wavy 
lines across them are gray, and the lettered space in the middle 
is replaced by a brown spot surrounded by an iri'egular gray 
line; the hind wings resemble those of the male in color and 
markings; the thorax and legs are purple-brown; and the abdo- 
men is ochre-yellow, with a narrow purple-red band on the edge 
of each nns;. These moths exoand from two inches and three 
quarters to three inches and a half. 

The other Saturnia, inhabiting Massachusetts, is the Maia* 
of Drury, or Proserpina^ of Fabricius. The moth probably 
rests with its wings closed, like the lo moth, the fore wings 
covering the other pair, the front edge of which seems formed 
to extend a little beyond that of the fore wings in this position. 
The wings are thin and almost transparent like crape; they 
are black, and both pairs are crossed by a broad yellow-white 
band, near the middle of which, on each wing, there is a kidney- 
shaped black spot having a central yellow-white crescent or 
curved line on it ; the thorax is covered with black hairs on the 
top, pale yellow hairs on the fore part, and has two tufts of 
rust-red hairs behind ; the abdomen is black, with a few yellow- 
ish haii-s along the sides, and a patch of a rust-red color at the 
extremity, in the males. The wings expand from two inches 
and a half to three inches and one eighth. Saturnia Maia 
seems to be a very rare moth in Massachusetts; I have never 



* Maia, in Mythology, was one of the seven daughters of Atlas ; they were 
placed in the heavens after death, and formed the constellation called Pleiades. 
t Proserpina was the wife of Pluto, the god of the infernal regions. 

39 



306 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

met with it alive, but have seen several specimens which were 
taken in this State. The time of its appearance here is not 
known to me with certainty; but, if I am rightly informed, it 
has been found in July and the beginning of August, flying 
by day on the borders of oak woods, or resting on the shrub 
oaks which cover the sides of some of our high hills. Of the 
caterpillar I have seen only one specimen, which was found, 
fully grown, on an oak, towards the end of September; it was 
destroyed, however, before I had an opportunity of making a 
description of it. Mr. Abbot* has figured two of the cater- 
pillars, which differ from each other in color and markings. 
They are nearly three inches long; the head and all the feet 
are red ; and on each of the rings there are six long branched 
prickles. One of these caterpillars is represented of a dusky 
brown color mingled with yellow, with yellow warts from which 
the prickles arise. The other is yellow, with red warts, and 
two black stripes along the back. Mr. Abbot states that these 
caterpillars, while small, feed together in company, but disperse 
as they grow large; they eat the leaves of various kinds of 
oaks ; sting very sharply when handled ; and that they go into 
the ground to transform; but he does not inform us whether 
they make cocoons. Probably their cocoons are like those of 
the lo moth, composed of a gummy membranaceous sub- 
stance, covered either with leaves or with grains of earth. 

As far as I can ascertain, these six moths are the only Satur- 
nians which have been discovered east of the Mississippi, and 
they are commonly met with throughout the United States. 
The last of them, together with some foreign species, such as 
the Tau moth of Europe, seem naturally to conduct to the 
next family, which I call Ceratocampians (Ceratocampad.e), 
after the name of the chief genus contained in it. This name, 
moreover, signifying horned caterpillar, serves to point out the 
principal peculiarity of the caterpillars in this group ; they 
being armed with thorny points, of which those on the second 
ring, and sometimes also those on the third, are long, curved, 
and resemble horns. These caterpillars eat the leaves of forest- 

* "Insects of Georgia," p. 99, pi. 50. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 307 

trees, and go into the ground to undergo their transformations 
without making cocoons. The rings of the chrysalis are sur- 
rounded by little notched ridges, the teeth of which, together 
with the strong prickles at the hinder end of the body, assist 
it in forcing its way upwards out of the earth, just as the moth 
is about to burst the skin of the chrysalis. The moths are 
very easily distinguished from all the foregoing by their an- 
tennae, which are short, and, in the males, are feathered on 
both sides for a little more than half the length of the stalk, 
and are naked from thence to the tip; while those of the 
females are threadlike, and neither feathered nor toothed. 
The feelers (except in Ceratocampa, in which they are very 
distinct) and the tongue are very small, and not ordinarily 
visible. There are no bristles and hooks to fasten together the 
wings, which, when at rest, are not spread, but are closed, the 
fore wings covering the hinder pair, and the front edge of the 
latter, in most cases, extends a little beyond that of the fore 
wings. These are some of the principal characters on which 
I have ventured to establish this family, which is now, for the 
first time, pointed out as a peculiar group. I believe that it is 
exclusively American. 

One of the largest and most rare, and withal the most 
magnificent of our moths is the Ceratocampa reg-alis, or regal 
walnut-moth. Its fore wings are olive-colored, adorned with 
several yellow spots, and veined with broad red lines ; the 
hind wings are orange-red, with two large irregular yellow 
patches before, and a row of wedge-shaped olive-colored spots 
between the veins behind; the head is orange-red; the thorax 
is yellow, with the edge of the collar, the shoulder-covers, and 
an angular spot on the top, orange-red ; the upper side of the 
abdomen, and the legs are also orange-red. Unlike the other 
moths of the same family, the feelers in this are distinct, cylin- 
drical, and prominent, and the front edge of the hind wings 
does not seem to be formed to extend beyond that of the other 
pair when the wings are closed. It expands from five to six 
inches. In the year 1828, 1 found three of the eggs of this fine 
insect on the black walnut on the twentieth of July and the 
fourth of August. They were just hatched at the time, and 



308 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the caterpillars were near to them resting on a leaf. The 
position of these young insects was so peculiar as to attract 
attention, independently of the long branching spines with 
which the fore part of their body was armed. They were not 
stretched out in a straight line, neither were they hunched up 
like the caterpillars of the Luna and Polyphemus moths ; but, 
when at rest, they bent the fore part of the body sidewise, so 
that the head nearly touched the middle of the side, and their 
long horn-like spines were stretched forwards, in a slanting 
direction, over the head. When disturbed they raised their 
heads and horns, and shook them from side to side in a me- 
nacing manner. These little caterpillars were nearly black; 
on each of the rings, except the last two, there were six straight 
yellow thorns or spines, which were furnished on all sides with 
little sharp points like short branches. Of these branched 
spines, two on the top of the first ring, and four on the second 
and the third rings, or ten in all, were very much longer than 
the rest, and were tipped with little knobs, ending in two 
points ; they were also movable, the insect having the power 
of dropping them almost horizontally over the head, and of 
raising them up again perpendicularly. On the eleventh ring 
there were seven spines, the middle one being long and 
knobbed like those on the fore part of the body ; on the last 
ring there were eleven short and branched spines. After cast- 
ing its skin two or three times, the caterpillar becomes lighter 
colored, and gradvially changes to green ; the knobs on the long 
spines disappear, their little points or branches do not increase 
in size, and finally these spines become curved, turning back- 
wards at their points, and resemble horns. When fully grown, 
the caterpillar measures from four to five inches in length, and 
about three quarters of an inch in diameter. It is of a green 
color, and transversely banded across each of the rings with 
pale blue ; there is a large blue-black spot on each side of the 
third ring; the head and legs are orange-colored; the ten long 
horn-like spines on the fore part of the body are orange-colored, 
with the tips and the points surrounding them black; the other 
spines are short and black. Notwithstanding the great size, for- 
midable appearance, and menacing motions of this insect, when 



LEPIDOPTERA. 309 

handled it is perfectly harmless, and unable to sting or wound 
with its frightful horns. It lives solitary on walnut and hick- 
ory trees, the leaves of which it eats ; crawls down and goes 
into the ground towards the end of summer, and changes to a 
chrysalis without previously making a cocoon. Unfortunately 
my caterpillars died before the time for their transformation 
arrived. The chrysalis is short and thick ; obtuse behind, but 
terminated by two minute points ; and the transverse notched 
ridges or little teeth that are found on the chrysalids of the 
other insects belonging to the same family, are very small and 
hardly visible on this one. The insect remains in the ground 
through the winter, and the moth comes out in the following 
summer, during the month of June, if I am rightly informed. 
I have not been able to obtain one myself, and my description 
of the moth was made from a very fine specimen belonging to 
a friend, who received it from New Bedford. 

Between the regal Ceratocampa and the smaller insects of 
this family belonging to the new genus Dryocainpa, should be 
placed a noble moth, which partakes, in some respects, of the 
characters of both ; its horned caterpillar, particularly while 
young, when its horns are proportionally longer and more 
formidable in appearance than afterwards, resembles some- 
what that of the Ceratocampa ; its chrysalis is exactly like that 
of a Dri/ocampa, and like the latter also, in the winged state, 
its feelers are minute, its hind wings project beyond the front 
edges of the fore wings when at rest, and its style of coloring 
is the same. In my Catalogue of the " Insects of Massachu- 
setts," I placed this moth, the imperialis of Drury, in the genus 
Ceratocampa, from which, however, it must be removed, on 
account of its very small feelers, and the position of its wings ; 
and I now refer it, with some hesitation, to the genus Dryo- 
campa, with \vhich it agrees so well in the moth state, although 
its caterpillar differs a good deal from those of the other insects 
of the same genus. The imperial moth, Dryocampa imperialis 
has wings of a fine yellow color, thickly sprinkled with purple- 
brown dots, with a large patch at the base, a small round spot 
near the middle, and a wavy band towards the hinder margin 
of each wing, of a light purple-brown color; in the males there 



310 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

is another purple-brown spot, covering nearly the whole of the 
outer hind margin of the fore wings, and united to the band 
near that part ; the body is yellow, shaded with purple-brown 
on the back, and with three spots of the same color on the 
thorax. It expands from four inches and a half to more than 
five inches. In a variety of this moth, of which I have a 
colored drawing done by Mr. Abbot, the purple-brown color 
prevails so much as to cover the wings, with the exception only 
of a large triangular yellow spot contiguous to the front margin 
of each wing. This moth appears here from the twelfth of 
June to the beginning of July, and then lays its eggs on the 
button-wood tree. The caterpillars may be found upon this 
tree, grown to their full size, between the twentieth of August 
and the end of September, during which time they descend 
from the trees to go into the ground. They are then from 
three to four inches in length, and more than half an inch in 
diameter, and, for the most part, of a green color, slightly 
tinged with red on the back ; but many of them become more 
or less tanned or swarthy, and are sometimes found entirely 
brown. There are a few very short hairs thinly scattered over 
the body ; the head and the legs are pale orange-colored ; the 
oval spiracles, or breathing holes, on the sides, are large and 
white, encircled with green ; on each of the rings, except the 
first, there are six thorny knobs or hard and pointed warts of a 
yellow color, covered with short black prickles ; the two up- 
permost of these warts on the top of the second and of the 
third rings are a quarter of an inch or more in length, curved 
backwards like horns, and are of a deeper yellow color than 
the rest; the three triangular pieces on the posterior extremity 
of the body are brown, with yellow margins, and are covered 
with raised orange-colored dots. The chrysalis, which is not 
contained in a cocoon, is about tAvo inches long, of a dark 
chestnut-brown color, rough with little elevated points, particu- 
larly on the anterior extremity, ends behind with a long forked 
spine, and is surrounded, on each ring, with a notched ridge, 
the little teeth of which point towards the tail. Three of the 
grooves or incisions between the rings are very deep, thus al- 
lowing a great extent of motion to the joints, and these, with 



LEPIDOPTERA. 311 

the notched ridges, and the long spine at the end of the body, 
enable the chrysalis to work its way upwards in the earth, 
above the surface of which it pushes the fore part of its body 
just bofore the moth makes its escape. 

Dryocampa^ oak or forest caterpillar, is a name originally 
applied by me to certain insects, found sometimes in great 
numbers on oak-trees, which then sufler very severely from 
their ravages. Of these caterpillars there are several kinds, 
resembling each other in shape, and in the form and situation 
of the thorns with which they are armed, but difiering in color, 
and in the moths produced from them. They live together in 
swarms, but do not make webs ; their bodies are cylindrical, 
remarkably hard and stifi', naked or not hairy, and have, on 
each ring, about six short thorns, or sharp points, besides two 
on the top of the second ring, which are long, slender and 
threadlike, but not flexible, and project in the manner of horns. 
The most common of these caterpillars in Massachusetts is 
black, with four narrow ochre-yellow stripes along the back, 
and two on each side. It is found in swarms of several hun- 
dreds together, on the limbs of the white and red oaks, during 
the month of August. The eggs from which they proceed are 
laid in large clusters on the under side of a leaf near the end 
of a branch. The caterpillars are hatched towards the end of 
July, but sometimes earlier, and at other times later. At first 
they eat only the youngest leaves at the end of the branches 
and twigs, and, as they grow larger and stronger, proceed 
downwards, devouring every leaf, to the midrib and foot-stalk, 
from one end of the branch to the other. They have their 
regular times for eating and for rest, and when they have fin- 
ished their meals, they cluster closely together along the twigs 
and branches. If disturbed, they raise the fore part of their 
bodies, and shake their heads to signify their displeasure. 
When fully grown they measure about two inches in length. 
Commonly in the early part of September, they crawl down 
the trees and go into the ground, to the depth of four or five 
inches, where they are changed to chrysalids. These resemble 
the chrysalids of the imperial Dryocampa, but are much smaller, 
and like them they remain in the ground throughout the win- 



312 INSECTS INJUKIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

ter, and work their way np to the surface in the following 
summer. These chrysalids may often be seen sticking half 
way out of the ground under oak-trees in the latter part of 
June and the beginning of July, at which time the moths burst 
them open and make their escape. Drijocampa senatoria, the 
senatorial Dryocampa, which is the name of this kind of moth, 
is of an ochre-yellow color ; the wings are faintly tinged with 
purplish red, especially on the front and hind margins, and are 
crossed by a narrow purple-brown band behind the middle ; 
the fore wings are sprinkled with blackish dots, and have a 
small round white spot near the middle. The male is much 
smaller than the female, its wings are thinner, and more tinged 
with dull purple-red. It expands about an inch and three 
quarters ; the female two inches and a half, or more. 

Three more kinds of Dryocampa are found in Massachusetts, 
but they are all rare in this State. The largest of them is the 
stigma of Fabricius, or spotted-wing Dryocampa. It is of a 
reddish ochre or deep tawny yellow color ; the fore wings are 
tinged with purplish red behind, are thickly sprinkled with 
blackish dots, have a small round white spot near the middle, 
and a narrow oblique purple-red band behind; the hind wings 
have a narrow transverse purple-red band, behind which the 
border is sprinkled with a few black dots. It expands from 
one inch and three quarters to two inches and three quarters. 
The caterpillar, which I have not seen, is figured in Mr. Ab- 
bot's work,* where it is colored yellow, with black thorns on 
its back. It is said to live on the oak, in swarms, while young, 
but these disperse as the insects grow large. 

The following resembles the senatorial Dryocampa ; but is 
rather smaller, and is a more delicate moth. The color of its 
body is ocre-yellow ; the fore wings of the male are purple- 
brown, with a large colorless transparent space on the middle, 
near which is a small round white spot, and towards the hinder 
margin a narrow oblique very faint dusky stripe ; the hind 
wings are purple-brown, almost transparent in the middle, and 
with a very faint transverse dusky stripe ; the wings of the 

♦ "Insects of Georgia," p. Ill, pi. 56. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 313 

female are purplish red, blended with ochre-yellow, are almost 
transparent in the middle, and have the same white spots and 
faint bands as those of the male. It expands from one inch 
and three quarters to two inches and a quarter, or more, in 
some females. The distinguishing name, given by Sir J. E. 
Smith* to this moth, is pellucida, and we may call it the pel- 
lucid or clear-wing Dryocampa. I have only once seen the 
caterpillar, which was found on an oak on the twenty-fifth of 
September. It was about the size of that of the senatorial Dry- 
ocampa, and resembled it in every thing but color. Its head 
was rust-yellow, its body pea-green, shaded on the back and 
sides with red, longitudinally striped with very pale yellowish 
green, and armed with black thorns. 

The last of these insects is the rubicunda of Fabricius, or 
rosy Dryocampa. This delicate and very rare moth is found 
in Massachusetts in July. Its fore wings are rose-colored, 
crossed by a broad pale yellow band ; the hind wings are pale 
yellow, with a short rosy band behind the middle ; the body is 
yellow ; the belly and legs are rose-colored. It expands rather 
more than one inch and three quarters. The caterpillar is 
unknown to me. 

All the Moth caterpillars thus far described in this work, live 
more or less exposed to view, and devour the leaves of plants; 
but there are others that are concealed from observation in 
stems and roots, which they pierce in various directions, and 
devour only the wood and pith ; their habits, in this respect, 
being exactly like those of the ^gerians among the Sphinges. 
These insects belong to a family of Bombyces, by some natu- 
ralists called Zeuzerad.e, and by others Hepialid^e, both 
names derived from insects included in the same group. The 
caterpillars of the Zeuzerians are white or reddish white, soft 
and naked, or slightly downy, with brown horny heads, a spot 
on the top of the fore part of the body which is also brown and 
hard, and sixteen legs. They make imperfect cocoons, some- 
times of silk, and sometimes of morsels of wood or grains of 
earth fastened together by gummy silk. Their chrysalids, like 



* Abbot's "Insects of Georgia," p. 115, pi. 58. 

40 



314 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

those of the Ceratocampians, are provided with notched trans- 
verse ridges on the rings, by means of which they push them- 
selves out of their holes when ready to be transformed. The 
moths differ a good deal from each other, although the appear- 
ance and habits of the caterpillars are so much alike. The 
antenna? in some are threadlike, or made up of nearly cylin- 
drical joints put together like a string of beads; in others they 
are more tapering, and doubly pectinated or toothed on the 
under side, at least in the males ; and in Zeuzera, a kind of 
moth not hitherto found in this country, the antenna? resemble 
those of the Ceratocampians, being half- feathered in the males, 
and not feathered in the females. The wings are rather long 
and narrow, and are strengthened by very numerous veins. 
The female is provided with a kind of tube at the end of the 
body, that can be drawn in and out, by means of which she 
thrusts her eggs into the chinks of the bark or into the earth at 
the roots of plants. 

Of the root-eaters there is one kind which is very injurious 
to the hop-vine in Europe. It is called Hepiohs Humuli, the 
hop-vine Hepiolus. The caterpillar is yellowish white; the 
head, a spot on the top of the first and second rings, and the 
six fore legs are shining brown, and it is nearly naked, or has 
only a few short hairs scattered over its body. It lives in the 
roots of the hop, and, when about to transform, buries itself in 
the ground, and makes a long, cylindrical cocoon or case, 
composed of grains of earth held together by a loose silken 
web. The chrysalis has transverse rows of little teeth on the 
backs of the abdominal rings, and by means of them it finally 
works its way out of the cocoon and rises to the surface of the 
earth ; this being done, the included moth bursts its chrysalis 
shell, and comes forth into the open air. In moths of this 
kind (genus Hepiolus) the antennae are very short, slender, 
almost thread-like, and not feathered or pectinated; the tongue 
is wanting or invisible; and the feelers are excessively small, 
and concealed in a tuft of hairs. The hop-vine Hepiolus has 
not yet been detected in Massachusetts ; but we have a much 
larger species, known to me only in the moth state, which is 
the reason of my having given the foregoing account of the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 315 

preparatory stages of a European species. This moth does 
not appear to have been described. It is named in my Cata- 
logue of the " Insects of Massachusetts," Hepiolits ar^enleo- 
viaculatus, the silver-spotted Hepiolus. Its body and wings 
are rather long. It is of an ashen gray color; the fore wings 
are variegated with dusky clouds and bands, and have a small 
triangular spot and a round dot of a silvery white color near 
their base ; the hind wings are tinged with ochre-yellow 
towards the tip. It expands two inches and three quarters. 
A much larger specimen was found by Professor Agassiz near 
Lake Superior.* 

The locust-tree, Rohinia pscudacacia, is preyed upon by 
three different kinds of wood-eaters or borers, whose unchecked 
ravages seem to threaten the entire destruction and extermi- 
nation of this valuable tree within this part of the United 
States. One of these borers is a little reddish caterpillar, 
whose operations are confined to the small branches and to 
very young trees, in the pith of which it lives; and by its irri- 
tation it causes the twig to swell around the part attacked. 
These swellings being spongy, and also perforated by the cater- 
pillar, are weaker than the rest of the stem, which therefore 
easily breaks off at these places. My attempts to complete 
the history of this insect have not been successful hitherto. 

The second kind of borer of the locust-tree is larger than the 
foregoing, is a grub, and not a caterpillar, which finally turns 
to the beetle named Clytus picttts, the painted Clytus, already 
described on a preceding page of this work. 

The third of the wood-eaters, to which the locust-tree is 
exposed, though less common than the others, and not so 
universally destructive to the tree as the painted Clytus, is a 
very much larger borer, and is occasionally productive of great 
injury, especially to full-grown and old trees, for which it 
appears to have a preference. It is a true caterpillar, belong- 
ing to the tribe of moths under consideration, is reddish above, 
and white beneath, with the head and top of the first ring 
brown and shelly, and there are a few short hairs arising from 

* See a figure of it in his *' Lake Superior," pi. 7, fig. 6. 



316 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

minute warts thinly scattered over the surface of the body. 
When fully grown, it measures two inches and a half, or more, 
in length, and is nearly as thick as the end of the little finger. 
These caterpillars bore the tree in various directions, but for 
the most part obliquely upwards and downwards through the 
solid wood, enlarging the holes as they increase in size, and 
continuing them through the bark to the outside of the trunk. 
Before transforming, they line these passages with a web of 
silk, and, retiring to some distance from the orifice, they spin 
around their bodies a closer web, or cocoon, within which they 
assume the chrysalis form. The chrysalis measures one inch 
and a half or two inches in length, is of an amber color, 
changing to brown on the fore part of the body; and, on the 
upper side of each abdominal ring, are two transverse rows of 
tooth-like projections. By the help of these, the insect, when 
ready for its last transformation, works its way to the mouth 
of its burrow, where it remains while the chrysalis skin is rent, 
upon which it comes forth on the trunk of the tree a winged 
moth. In this its perfected state, it is of a gray color ; the fore 
wings are thickly covered with dusky netted lines and irregular 
spots, the hind wings are more uniformly dusky, and the 
shoulder-covers are edged with black on the inside. It ex- 
pands about three inches. The male, which is much smaller, 
and has been mistaken for another species, is much darker 
than the female, from which it differs also in having a large 
ochre-yellow spot on the hind wings, contiguous to their pos- 
terior margin. Professor Peck, who first made public the 
history of this insect,* named it Cossus Robinice, the Cossus 
of the Locust-tree, scientifically called Robinia. It is supposed 
by Professor Peck to remain three years in the caterpillar state. 
The moth comes forth about the middle of July. The same 
insect, or one not to be distinguished from it while a cater- 
pillar, perforates the trunks of the red oak. Mr. Newman f has 
recently given the name of Xylentes, the carpenter, to the genus 



* See Massachusetts Agricultural Repository and Journal," Vol. V., p. 67, with 
a plate. 

t See " Entomological Magazine," Vol. V., p. 129. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 317 

including this insect, instead of Cossus, which it formerly bore, 
because the latter, being the name of a species, ought not to 
have been applied to a genus. The European carpenter-moth, 
called Bombjjx Cossiis* by LinnoBus, will now be the Xijhides 
Cossus ; and our indigenous species will be the Xylenles 
Robinice, or locust-tree carpenter-moth. The moths of this 
genus have thick and robust bodies, broad and thickly veined 
wings, two very distinct feelers, and antennae, which are fur- 
nished on the under side, in both sexes, with a double set of 
short teeth, rather longer in the male than in the female. 
Their tongue is invisible. They give out a strong and pecu- 
liar smell, whence they are sometimes called goat-moths by 
English writers. 

Some caterpillars, which eat the leaves of plants, live in 
cases or long oval cocoons, open at both ends, and large 
enough for the insects to turn around within them, so as to go 
out of either end. They do not entirely leave these cases, 
even when moving from place to place, but cling to them on 
the inside with the legs of the hinder part of their bodies, while 
their heads and fore legs are thrust out. Thus in moving they 
creep with their six fore legs only, and drag along their cases 
after them as they go. These cases are made of silk within, 
and are covered on the outside with leaves, bits of straw, or 
little sticks. The caterpillars are nearly cylindrical, generally 
soft and whitish, except the head and upper part of the first 
three rings, which are brown and hard; they have sixteen legs; 
the first three pairs are long, strong, and armed with stout 
claws ; the others are very short, consisting merely of slight 
wart-like elevations provided with numerous minute clinging 
hooks. When they are about to change their forms their 
cases serve them instead of cocoons; they fasten them by 
silken threads to the plant on which they live, stop up the 
holes in them, and then throw off" their caterpillar-skins. The 
chrysalids are remarkably blunt at the hinder extremity, and 
are provided with transverse rows of minute teeth on the back 
of the abdominal rings. The moths, of which there are several 

* Subsequently named Cossus ligniperda by Fabricius. 



318 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

kinds produced by these case-bearing caterpillars, differ very 
much from each other; but, as they all agree in their habits 
and general appearance while in the caterpillar form, they are 
brought together in one family called Psychad^, the Psychians, 
from Psyche, a genus belonging to it. The Germans give 
these insects a more characteristic name, that of sacktrdger* 
that is, sack-bearers, and Hiibner called them Canephorm, or 
basket-carriers, because the cases of some of them are made of 
little sticks somewhat like a wicker basket. The cases of the 
insects belonging to the European genus Psyche are covered 
with small leaves, bits of grass or of sticks, placed length- 
wise on them. The chrysalis of the male Psyche pushes itself 
half way out of the case when about to set free the moth ; the 
female, on the contrary, never leaves its cocoon, is not provided 
with wings, and its antennae and legs are very short. The 
male Psyche resembles somewhat the same sex of Org-yia, 
having pretty broad wings, and antennae that are doubly 
feathered on the under side; it has also a bristle and hook to 
hold the wings together. The cases of Oiketicusj another 
and much larger kind of sack-bearer, inhabiting the West 
Indies and South America, are covered with pieces of leaves 
and of sticks arranged either longitudinally or transversely. 
The cases of some of the females, measure four or five inches 
in length. Some which I received from Cuba were covered 
with little bits of sticks, about a quarter of an inch long, 
arranged transversely, and the cases were hung by a thick 
silken loop or ring to a twig ; the lower end of these cases was 
filled with a large quantity of loose and very soft brownish 
floss-silk, which completely closed the orifice within. The 
male Oiketicus resembles a Zeuzera in the form and great 
length of its body, in the shape of its wings, and in its an- 
tennae, and in both the latter it resembles also the same sex of 
a Dryocampa, particularly in its antennae, which are feathered 
on both sides on the lower part of the stalk, and are bare at the 



* See Germar's "Magazin der Entomologie," Vol. I., p. 19. 
t Thi3 name ought to be CEcoticus. See Mr. Guildiiig's description of the 
insect in the " Transactions of the Linnsean Society," Vol. XV. 



LEPIDOPTEEA. 319 

other end. The female has neither wings, antennae, nor legs, 
and is said to remain always within its cocoon. Some years 
ago, a case or cocoon of an Oiketicus, which was found on 
Long Island, was presented to me. It was smaller than the 
West Indian specimens, measuring only an inch and a half 
without its loop, and w^as covered with a few little sticks 
longitudinally arranged. It contained a female chrysalis, with 
the remains of the caterpillar. In Philadelphia and the vicin- 
ity, cases of a similar kind are very common on many of the 
trees, particularly on the arbor vita?, larch, and hemlock, which 
are often very much injured by the insects inhabiting them. 
These are there popularly called drop-worms and basket-worms. 
We have, in Massachusetts, another sack-bearer, which does 
not appear to have been described, and differs so much both 
from Psyche and Oiketicus, when arrived at maturity, as to 
induce me to give it another generical name. I therefore call 
it Perophora Melsheimerii* Melsheimer's sack-bearer. A case 
of this insect, containing a living caterpillar, was brought to 
me towards the end of September, by a student of Harvard 
College, Mr. H. O. White, who found it on an oak-tree in 
Cambridge. This case was nearly an inch and a half long, 
and about half an inch in diameter. It was not regularly oval, 
but somewhat flattened on its lower side. It consisted exter- 
nally of two oblong oval pieces of a leaf, fastened together in 
the neatest manner by their edges, but the seams made a little 
ridge on each side of the case ; this had become dry and faded, 
and was lined within with a thick and tough layer of brownish 
silk, in which there was left, at each end, a circular opening 
just big enough for the caterpillar to pass through. The cater- 
pillar was cylindrical, about as thick as a common pipe-stem, 
of a light reddish brown color with a paler line along the 
back; it was rough with little elevated points; its head and 
the top of the first ring were black, hard, and rough also. The 
head was provided with a pair of jointed feelers, which the 



* Named in. honor of Dr. F. E. Melsheimer (the son of the Rev. F. V. Mel- 
shcimer, the father of American Entomology, as he has been called), from 
whom I have received specimens of this insect, and its curious case. 



320 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

insect extended and drew in at pleasure, and which, when 
they were out, were kept in continual motion. On each side 
of the middle of the head, there was a black and flexible kind 
of antenna, very slender where it joined the head, and broader 
towards the end, like the handle of a spoon. The first three 
pairs of legs were equal in length, and armed with stout horny 
claws. The other legs, if such they could be called, were ten 
in number, and so short that only the oval soles of the feet 
were visible, and these were surrounded by numerous minute 
hooks. The tail end of the body was as blunt as if it had 
been cut off' with a knife; it sloped a little backwards, and 
consisted of a circular horny plate, of a dark gray color, which, 
when the caterpillar retired within its case, exactly shut up one 
of the holes in it. This caterpillar eat the leaves of the oak, 
and fed mostly by night; while eating it came half way, or 
more, out of its cocoon; and in moving laid hold of the leaf 
with its fore legs, and then shortened its body suddenly, so as 
to bring its cocoon after it with a jerk; and, in this way, it 
went by jerks from place to place. When it had done eating, 
it moored its case to a leaf by a few silken threads fastened to 
one, and sometimes to both ends; and before moving again, 
it came out and bit off" these threads close to the case. It 
could turn round easily within its case, and go out of either 
end, as occasion required. So tenaciously did it cling to the 
inside of its case with the little hooks of its hinder feet, that 
all attempts to make it come wholly out, except by a force 
which would have been fatal to the insect, were without effect. 
This kind of caterpillar prepares for transformation by fasten- 
ing both ends of its cocoon to a branch, and then stops up 
each of the holes in it with a little circular silken lid, exactly 
fitting the orifice, and made about the thickness of common 
brown paper. There is no great difference in the size or form 
of the chrysalids which produce the male and female moths; 
they are about three quarters of an inch in length ; on both of 
them the sheaths for the wings, antennse, and legs, are alike, 
and are as plainly to be seen as on the chrysalids of other 
winged moths. The chrysalis tapers very little, and does not 
end with a point, but is blunt behind ; and on the edge of 



LEPIDOPTERA. 321 

each of the rings of the back, there is a transverse row of little 
pointed teeth which shut into corresponding notches in the 
ring immediately behind Ihem. These teeth are evidcMitly 
designed to enable the chrysalis to move towards the mouth 
of its case, and to hold with, when it is engaged in forcing off 
the lid in order to allow of the escape of the molh. I do not 
know at what time the moths come out in Massachusetts; 
they have been taken in July, in Virginia. Both sexes leave 
their cocoons when arrived at maturity, and both are provided 
with wings. Their feelers are of moderate size, cylindrical, 
blunt-pointed, and thickly covered Avith scales. The tongue 
is not visible. Their antenntu are curved, and arc recurved or 
bent upwards at the point; the stalk is feathered, in a double 
row, on the under side, very widely in the males, for more than 
half its length, and beyond the middle the feathery fringe is 
suddenly narrowed, and tapers thence to the tip ; in the females 
the antennae arc also doubly feathered, but the fringe is nar- 
rower throughout than in the other sex. The body and the 
wings almost exactly resemble those of the foreign silk-worm 
moth in shape; but the fore wings are rather more pointed and 
hooked at the tip. There are no bristles and hooks to hold 
together the wings, which, when at rest, cover the sides like a 
sloping roof, and the front edge of the hind wings does not 
project beyond that of the fore wings. These moths are of a 
reddish gray color, finely sprinkled all over with minute black 
dots; the posterior margin of the hind wings above, and the 
under side of the fore wings, especially behind the tip, are 
tinged with tawny red; there is a small black dot near the 
middle of the fore wings ; and both the fore and hind wings 
are crossed by a narrow blackish band, beginning with an angle 
on the front edge of the former, and passing obliquely back- 
wards to the inner edge of the hind wings. They expand 
from one inch and three eighths to two inches, or a little more. 
The last family of the Bombyces, remaining to be noticed, 
may be called Notodontians (Notodontadje). Many of the 
caterpillars belonging to it have hunched backs, or tooth-like 
prominences on the back ; and hence the origin of the name 
of this family, which comes from a word signifying toothed 
41 



322 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

back. Most of these caterpillars are entirely naked ; some of j 
them are downy, or slightly hairy, but the hairs generally grow 
immediately from the skin, and not in spreading clusters from 
little warts on the rings. They have sixteen legs; some raise 
the last pair when at rest, and some keep these always elevated 
and do not use them in creeping, in which case these terminal 
legs are lengthened, and form a forked appendage or tail to 
the hinder part of the body. Hence such caterpillars are often 
described as having only fourteen legs, although the wanting 
members really exist in a modified form. Moreover the cater- 
pillars of some of the Notodontians seem to be without legs, 
and even on close examination only the soles of the feet can 
be perceived. The Notodontians are found chiefly on trees 
and shrubs, the leaves of which they eat. When about to be 
transformed, the most of them enclose themselves in cocoons, 
which are often very hard and thick, made either of silk, or of 
silk mixed with fragments of wood and bark ; some make 
thin, semitransparent, and filmy cocoons under a covering of 
leaves; some merely cover themselves with grains of earth, 
held together by silken threads; and a very few go into the 
ground to transform, without making cocoons. The chrysa- 
lids taper behind, and are not provided with transverse notched 
ridges on the back. The moths close their wings over the 
sides of the body like a sloping roof, when at rest ; but the 
front edges of the hind wings never extend beyond those of 
the fore wings, and the bristles and hooks for holding the 
wings together, are never wanting. The antennas are rather 
long; those of the males are generally doubly feathered on 
the under side; but the feathery fringe is often very narrow 
towards the tips, and, in the females, is always narrower than 
in the other sex; in a few of both sexes the antennsG are not 
feathered at all. The feelers and tongue, though short, are 
generally visible. The body is rather long, and not very thick. 
In what follows, a few only of the most remarkable species 
will be described. 

Among the many odd-shaped caterpillars belonging to this 
family, not the least remarkable are those which are called 
LiMACODES, that is, slug-like, on account of their seeming want 



LEPIDOPTERA. 323 

of feet, their very slow gliding motions, and the slug-like form 
of some of them. In these caterpillars the body is very short 
and thick, and approaches more or less to an oval form; it is 
naked, or, in some kinds, covered only with short down; the 
head is small, and can be drawn in and concealed under the 
first ring; the six fore legs are also small and retractile; and 
the other legs consist only of little fleshy elevations, without 
claws or hooks. The under side of the body is smeared with 
a sticky fluid, which seems designed to render their footing 
more secure, and leaves a slimy track wherever the insects go. 
Their cocoons are very small, almost round, tough, and parch- 
ment-like, and are fastened to the twigs of the plants on which 
the insects live. The moths of some, if not of all, of the Lima- 
codes make their escape by pushing off" one end of the cocoon, 
which separates like a little circular lid. 

The most common of these slug-caterpillars, in Massachu- 
setts, live on walnut-trees. They come to their full size in 
September and October, and then measure five eighths of an 
inch" in length, and rather more than three eighths across the 
middle. The body is thick, and its outline nearly diamond- 
shaped ; the back is a little hollowed, and the middle of each 
side rises to an obtuse angle; it is of a green color, with the 
elevated edges brown. The boat-like form of this caterpillar 
induced me to name it Limacodes Scapha, the skiflf Limacodes, 
in my Catalogue of the "Insects of Massachusetts." My 
specimens generally died after they had made their cocoons, 
and consequently the moth is unknown to me. 

The moth of a Limacodes, called Cippus* by Sir J. E. Smith, 
is sometimes found in Massachusetts, from the middle of July 
till the tenth of August. It is of a reddish brown color; on 
each of the fore wings there is a small dark brown dot near 
the middle, and a broad wavy green band beginning at the 
base, and bending round till it touches the front margin near 



* Probably not the true Cippxis of Fabricius, which is found in Surinam. 
There is a figure of our species in Guerin's " Iconographic du Regne Animal," 
where it is named Limacodes Dclphinii, but for what reason I know not, for it 
docs not live on the Ddjihinium or larkspur. 



324 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the tip; behind a deep notch of this band, near the base of the 
wing, there is a triangular tawny spot, and another smaller 
one near the tip. The green band is sometimes broken into 
three triangular green spots, the middle one of which is wanting 
in some specimens. One half of the stalk of the antennae of 
the male is doubly feathered beneath ; the remainder to the 
tip is bare. The antennns of the female are thread-like and 
not fringed. The wings expand from one inch to one inch 
and one eighth. The caterpillar figured by Mr. Abbot* is 
oblong oval, striped with purple and yellow, with twelve fleshy 
horns, of an orange color, on the sides of its back, namely six 
on the fore part, two on the middle, and four on the hind part 
of the body. Mr. Abbot says that it eats the leaves of the 
dogwood [Cornus Florida), oak, and of other trees; that it 
makes its cocoon in September, and that the moth comes out 
in July. 

A still more extraordinary slug-caterpillar, having a very 
remote resemblance to the last, has been found here on forest- 
trees, and occasionally in considerable numbers on cherry-trees 
and apple-trees, from July to September. It is of a dark brown 
color, and is covered with a short velvet-like down ; its body is 
almost oblong square, but the sides of the rings extend hori- 
zontally in the form of flattened teeth; three of these teeth on 
each side, that is, one on the fore part, the middle, and the 
hind part of the body, are much longer than the others, and 
are curved backwards at the end. When fully grown, the 
caterpillar measures nearly an inch in length. It does not 
bear confinement well, and often dies before completing its 
transformations. Dr. Melsheimcr, to whom I am indebted for 
one of the moths, informs me that the caterpillar eats the leaves 
of the wild cherry, as well as those of the white and red oak, 
that it makes its cocoon about the middle of September, 
changes to a chrysalis the following April, and that the moth 
appears in about eight weeks afterwards. The name given to 
this insect by Sir J. E. Smith f is pithecium, the meaning of 



* "Insects of Georgia," p. 145, pi. 73. 

+ Abbot's "Insects of Georgia," p. 147, pi. 74. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 325 

wliicli is a sliriv('lI(Ml and iiioiikcy-faccd old woman, Ix'slowcd 
upon it probably on account of the shrivelled appearance and 
dark color of the eaterpiUar. In its winged slate, Luiidcodes 
pilhccium, or the hag-moth, as it may b(; called, is of a dusky 
brown color; its fon^ wings arc variegated with ligiit yellowish 
brown, and with a narrow curved and wavy band, of the same 
light color, edged externally with dark brown near the outer 
margin, and a light brown spot near fhe middle; the fringes 
of all the wings are spotted with light brown; the legs arc 
covered with long hairs; the anteima', in both sexes, are slen- 
der, almost thread-like, and not feathered. It expands from 
nearly one inch to one inch and a ((uart(>r. 

There is a kind of caterpillar, found in Jidy and August on 
the balsam po|)lar, and sometimes on other ])()plars and wil- 
lows, whose form, posture, and motions are so odd as at once 
to arrest attention. Its body is naked, short, and thick, tapers 
behind and ends with a forked kind of tail, which is held up- 
wards at an obtuse angle with the; rest of the l)ody. This 
forked tail, which takes the j)lace of the hindmost pair of legs, 
the others being only fourteen in number, is not used with the 
latter in creeping, and consists of two movable hollow tubes, 
within each of which is concealed a long orange-colored thread 
that the insect can j)ush out and draw in at jileasure. The 
feet are short and small ; the head is small, of a pur[)le color, 
and can be drawn luider the front part of the first ring; the 
body is green, with a triangular purple spot on the top of the 
fore part, and a large diamond-shaped [)atch, of the sanu; color, 
covering the back and middle of the sides like a mantle, and 
prolonged behind to the tail. When young, these caterpillars 
have, on the to[) of the first ring, two little pri(tkly warts, 
which disappear after one or two changes of the skin. When 
tcazed by being touched or irritated by dies, the caterpillar 
runs out the threads from its forked tail, which it jerks for- 
wards so as to lash the sides of its txxly and whij) od" the 
intruder. When fidly grown, it uu^asun^s sorn(;times an inch 
and a half in length, without including the terminal fork. 
Caterpillars of this kind are called Cerura, horned-tail, by 
some, and Dicranvra, forked-tail, by other naturalists. Early 



326 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

in August the one above described makes a tough cocoon of 
bits of wood and bark glued together with a sticky matter, and 
fastened to the side of a branch, the lower side being flat and 
the upper convex. The last transformation occurs about the 
middle of June, when, after the end of the cocoon has been 
softened by a liquid thrown out by the insect within, the moth 
forces its way through. This insect has been figured in Mr. 
Abbot's work,* where it is called furcida, a name, however, 
which belongs to an Eviropean insect. It is also represented 
in Guerin's "Iconographie," and in Griffith's translation of 
Cuvier's "Animal Kingdom;" and I have adopted the specific 
name given to it by Dr. Boisduval in these works. Cerura 
borealis, the northern Cerura or fork-tail moth, like others of 
the genus, has the antennee feathered in both sexes, but nar- 
row, and tapering and bent vip wards at the point; the legs, 
especially the first pair, which are stretched out before the 
body when at rest, are, like those of our native Limacodes, 
very hairy; and the wings are thin and almost transparent. 
The ground-color of our moth is a dirty white; the fore wings 
are crossed by two broad blackish bands, the outer one of 
which is traversed and interiupted by an irregular wavy whitish 
line ; the hinder margins of all the wings are dotted with black, 
and there are several black dots at the base and a single one 
near the middle of the fore wings; the top of the thorax is 
blackish, and the collar is edged with black. In some indi- 
viduals the dusky bands of the fore wings are edged or dotted 
with tawny yellow; in others these wings are dusky, and the 
bands are indistinct. They expand from one inch and three 
eighths to one inch and three quarters. 

The following insects, for the sake of convenience, may be 
included in the old genus Nulodonta. The first of them is 
found in August and September on plum and apple trees, and, 
according to Mr. Abbot,| on the red-berried alder, Prinos verti- 
cillatiis. The top of the fourth ring of this caterpillar rises in 
the form of a long horn, sloping forwards a little; the tail, with 
the hindmost feet, which are rather longer than the others, is 

♦ "Insects of Georgia," p. 141, pi. 71. t "Insects of Georgia," p. 171, pi. 86. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 827 

always raised when the insect is at rest, but it generally uses 
these legs in walking; its head is large, and of a brown color; 
the sides of the second and third rings are green ; the rcr^t of 
the body is brown, variegated with white on the back, and on 
it there are a very few short hairs, hardly visible to the naked 
eye. When folly grown, it measures an inch or more in length. 
Though mostly solitary in their habits, sometimes three or four 
of these caterpillars are found near together, and eating the 
leaves of the same twig. Towards the end of September they 
descend from the trees, and make their cocoons, which are thin 
and almost transparent, resembling parchment in texture, and 
are covered generally with bits of leaves on the outside. The 
caterpillars remain in their cocoons a long time before changing 
to chrysalids, and the moth does not come out till the follow- 
ing summer. There are probably two broods in the course of 
one season, for I have taken the moths early in August. In 
Georgia the caterpillar made its cocoon on the thirtieth of 
May, and was transformed to a moth fourteen days afterwards. 
This moth is the Notodonta wiicornis, or unicorn moth, so called 
from the horn on the back of the caterpillar. The fore wings 
are light brown, variegated with patches of greenish white and 
with wavy dark brown lines, two of which enclose a small 
whitish space near the shoulders; there is a short blackish 
mark near the middle ; the tip and the outer hind margin are 
whitish, tinged with red in the males; and near the outer hind 
angle there are one small white and tv%'o black dashes; the 
hind wings of the male are dirty white, with a dusky spot on 
the inner hind angle; those of the female are sometimes en- 
tirely dusky; the body is brownish, and there are two narrow 
black bands across the fore part of the thorax. The wings 
expand from one inch and a quarter to one inch and a half, or 
nearly. 

Ovir fruit-trees seem to be peculiarly subject to the ravages 
of insects, probably because the native trees of the forest, 
which originally yielded the insects an abundance of food, 
have been destroyed to a great extent, and their places sup- 
plied only partially by orchards, gardens, and nurseries. Nu- 
merous as are the kinds of caterpillars now found on cultivated 



328 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

trees, some are far more abundant than others, and therefore 
more often fall under our observation, and come to be better 
known. Such, for instance, are certain gregarious caterpillars 
that swarm on the apple, cherry, and plum trees towards the 
end of summer, stripping whole branches of their leaves, and 
not unfrequently despoiling our rose-bushes and thorn hedges 
also. These caterpillars are of two kinds, very different in 
appearance, but alike in habits and destructive propensities. 
The first of these may be called the red-humped, a name that 
will probably bring these insects to the remembrance of those 
persons who have ever observed them. Different broods make 
their appearance at various times during August and Septem- 
ber. The eggs, from which they proceed, are laid, in the 
course of the month of July, in clusters on the under side of a 
leaf, generally near the end of a branch. When first hatched 
they eat only the substance of the under side of the leaf, leav- 
ing the skin of the upper side and all the veins untouched ; 
but as they grow larger and stronger they devour whole leaves 
from the point to the stalk, and go from leaf to leaf down 
the twigs and branches. The young caterpillars are lighter 
colored than the old ones, which are yellowish brown, paler on 
the sides, and longitudinally striped with slender black lines ; 
the head is red ; on the top of the fourth ring there is a bunch 
or hump, also of a red color ; along the back are several short 
black prickles ; and the hinder extremity tapers somewhat, and 
is always elevated at an angle with the rest of the body, when 
the insect is not crawling. The full-grown caterpillars mea- 
sure one inch and a quarter, or rather more, in length. They 
rest close together on the twigs, when not eating, and some- 
times entirely cover the small twigs and ends of the branches. 
The early broods come to their growth and leave the trees by 
the middle of August, and the others between this time and 
the latter part of September. All the caterpillars of the same 
brood descend at one time, and disappear in the night. They 
conceal themselves under leaves, or just beneath the surface of 
the soil, and make their cocoons, which resemble those of the 
unicorn Notodonta. They remain a long time in their cocoons 
before changing to chrysalids, and are transformed to moths 



LEPIDOPTERA. 329 

towards the end of June or the beginning of July. Mr. Ab- 
bot* states that in Georgia these insects breed twice a year, 
the first broods making their cocoons towards the end of May, 
and appearing in the winged form fifteen days afterwards. 
This Notodonta is a neat and trim looking moth, and is hence 
called conciima by Sir J. E. Smith. It is of a light brown 
color; the fore wings arc dark brown along the inner margin, 
and more or less tinged with gray before ; there is a dark 
brown dot near the middle, a spot of the same color near each 
angle, a very small triangular whitish spot near the shoulders, 
and several dark brown longitudinal streaks on the outer hind 
margin ; the hind wings of the male are brownish or dirty 
white, with a brown spot on the inner hind angle; those of 
the other sex are dusky brown ; the body is light brown, with 
the thorax rather darker. The wings expand from one inch 
to one inch and three eighths. 

Every person who has paid any attention to the cultivation 
of the grape-vine in this country must have observed upon it, 
besides the large sphinx caterpillars that devour its leaves, a 
small blue caterpillar transversly banded with deep orange 
across the middle of each ring, the bands being dotted with 
black, with the head and feet also orange, the top of the elev- 
enth ring somewhat bulging, and the fore part of the body 
hunched up when the creature is at rest. These caterpillars 
begin to appear about the middle of July, and others are 
hatched afterv^ards, as late, perhaps, as the middle of August. 
When not eating they generally rest upon the under sides of 
the leaves, and, though many may be found on one vine, they 
do not associate with each other. They live on the common 
creeper as well as on the grape-vine. They eat all parts of 
the leaves, even to the midrib and stalks. When fully grown, 
and at rest, they measure an inch and a quarter, but stretch 
out, in creeping, to the length of an inch and a half, or more. 
Towards the end of August they begin to disappear, and no 
more will be found on the vines after September. They creep 
down the vines in the night, and go into the ground, burying 

* "Insects of Georgia," p. 169, pi. 85. 

42 



330 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

themselves three or four inches deep, and turn to chrysalids 
without making cocoons. The chrysalis is dark brown, and | 
rough with elevated points. The moths begin to come out of 
the ground as soon as the twenty-fifth of June, and others con- 
tinue to appear till the twentieth of July. Though of small 
size, they are very beautiful, and far surpass all others of the 
family in delicacy of coloring and design. The name of this 
moth is Eudryas grata* the first word signifying beautiful 
wood nymph, and the second agreeable or pleasing. The an- 
tennse are rather long, almost thread-like, tapering to the end, , 
and not feathered in either sex. The fore wings are pure : 
white, with a broad stripe along the front edge, extending from 
the shoulder a little beyond the middle of the edge, and a broad 
band around the outer hind margin, of a deep purple-brown 
color; the band is edged internally with olive-green, and 
marked towards the edge with a slender wavy white line ; 
near the middle of the wing, and touching the brown stripe, 
are two brown spots, one of them round and the other kidney- 
shaped ; and on the middle of the inner margin there is a large 
triangular olive-colored spot; the under side of the same wings 
is yellow, and near the middle there are a round and a kidney- 
shaped black spot. The hind wings are yellow above and 
beneath ; on the upper side with a broad purple-brown hind 
border on which there is a wavy white line, and on the under 
side with only a central black dot. The head is black. Along 
the middle of the thorax there is a broad crest-like stripe of 
black and pearl-colored glittering scales. The shoulder-covers 
are white. The upper side of the abdomen is yellow, with a 
row of black spots on the top, and another on each side ; the 
under side of the body, and the large mufl-like tufts on the fore 
legs, are white ; and the other legs are black. This moth rests 
with its wings closed like a steep roof over its back, and its 
fore legs stretched forward, like a Cerura. It expands from 
one inch and a half to one inch and three quarters. 

Eitdryas unio, of Hiibner, the pearl Eudryas, as its name 
implies, is a somewhat smaller moth, closely resembling the 

* This insect is the Bombyx grata of Fabricius. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 331 

preceding, from which it differs in having the stripe and band 
on its fore wings of a brighter purple-brown color, the round 
and kidney-shaped spots contiguous to the former also brown, 
the olive-colored edging of the band wavy, with a powdered 
blue spot between it and the triangular olive-colored spot on 
the inner margin, and a distinct brown spot on the inner hind 
angle of the posterior wings ; all the wings beneath are broadly 
bordered behind with light brown, and the spots upon them are 
also light brown. It expands from one inch and three eighths 
to one inch and a half. This species has been taken in Mas- 
sachusetts, but it is rare, and the caterpillar is unknown to me. 
In the remarks preceding the description of Notodonta con- 
cinna, mention was made of two kinds of caterpillars, living in 
great numbers on fruit-trees in the latter part of summer. The 
second kind are now to be described. They grow to a greater 
size, are longer in coming to their growth, their swarms are 
more numerous, and consequently they do much more injury 
than the red-humped kind. Entire branches of the apple-trees 
are frequently stripped of their leaves by them, and are loaded 
with these caterpillars in thickly crowded swarms. The eggs 
from which they are hatched will be found in patches, of about 
a hundred together, fastened to the under side of leaves near 
the ends of the twigs. Some of them begin to be hatched 
about the twentieth of July, and new broods make their 
appearance in succession for the space of a month or more. 
At first they eat only the under side and pulpy part of the 
leaves, leaving the upper side and veins untouched; but after- 
wards they consume the whole of the leaves except their stems. 
These caterpillars are sparingly covered with soft whitish hairs ; 
the young ones are brown, and striped with white ; but, as they 
grow older, their colors become darker every time they cast 
their skins. They come to their full size in about five weeks 
or a little more, and then measure from an inch and three 
quarters to two inches and a quarter in extent. The head is 
large, and of a black color; the body is nearly cylindrical, with 
a spot on the top of the first ring, and the legs dull orange- 
yellow, a black stripe along the top of the back, and three of 
the same color alternating with four yellow stripes on each 



332 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

side. The posture of these caterpillars, when at rest, is very 
odd ; both extremities are raised, the body being bent, and 
resting only on the four intermediate pairs of legs. If touched 
or otherwise disturbed, they throw up their heads and tails 
with a jerk, at the same time bending the body semicircularly 
till the two extremities almost meet over the back. They all 
eat together, and, after they have done, arrange themselves 
side by side along the twigs and branches which they have 
stripped. Beginning at the ends of the branches they eat all 
the leaves successively from thence towards the trunk, and if 
one branch does not aiTord food enough they betake them- 
selves to another. When ready to transform, all the individuals 
of the same brood quit the tree at once, descending by night, 
and burrow into the ground to the depth of three or four inches, 
and, within twenty-four hours afterwards, cast their cater- 
pillar-skins, and become chrysalids without making cocoons. 
They remain in the ground in this state all winter, and are 
changed to moths and come out between the middle and end 
of July. These moths belong to the genus Py^ara, so named 
because the caterpillar sits with its tail raised up. The an- 
tenna? are rather long, those of the males fringed beneath, in a 
dovible row, with very short hairs nearly to the tips, which, 
however, as well as the whole of the stalk of the antennte in 
the other sex, are bare ; the thorax is generally marked with a 
large dark-colored spot, the hairs of which can be raised up so 
as to form a ridge or kind of crest; the hinder margin of the 
fore wings is slightly notched; and the fore legs are stretched 
out before the body in repose. Our Pijgccra was named, by 
Drury, ministra^ the attendant or servant. It is of a light 
brown color; the head and a large square spot on the thorax 
are dark chesnut-brovvn; on the fore wings are four or five 
transverse lines, one or two spots near the middle, and a short 
oblique line near the tip, all of which, with the outer hind 
margin, are dark chesnut-brown. One and sometimes both of 
the dark brown spots are wanting on the fore wings in the 
males, and the females, which are larger than the other sex, 
frequently have five instead of four transverse brown lines. 
It expands from one inch and three quarters to two inches and 
d half. 



I 



LEPIDOPTERA. 333 

- I have seen on the oak, the birch, the black wahiut, and the 
hickory trees, swarms of caterpillars slightly differing in color 
from each other, and from those above described, that live on 
the apple and cherry trees; they were more hairy than the 
latter, but their postures and habits appeared to be the same. 
Whether they were all different species, or only varieties of 
the ministra, arising from difference of food, I have not been 
able to ascertain. 

The cultivation of the balsam and our other large-leaved 
native poplars seems to have been neglected of late years. It 
is true that these trees are not so durable and so valuable as 
many others; but we sometimes meet with noble specimens of 
them ; and the rapidity of their growth, the great size they 
attain in favorable situations, and the fine shade they afford, 
are qualities not to be overlooked or despised ; nor is the wood 
entirely worthless, either as fuel or in the arts. If these trees 
are planted alternately with other more slow-growing trees, 
we shall have the benefit of the shade and shelter of the former 
till the others have become large enough to fill their places. 
They are not subject to be attacked by canker-worms, oak- 
caterpillars, web-worms, and many other kinds of insects that 
infest our ornamental and shade trees of hard wood ; but, unfor- 
tunately, they suffer too often from insect depredators of their 
own, such as the grubs of two or three kinds of beetles, which 
bore into their trunks; the spiny caterpillars of the Antiopa 
butterfly and of the lo moth, the fork -tailed Cerura, the cater- 
pillar of the herald-moth, and another kind of caterpillar now 
to be described, all which devour the leaves of these trees. 
This last kind of caterpillar is found in little swarms on the 
trees from the last of July to the beginning of October. It 
does not raise the hinder part of its body when at rest. It is 
nearly cylindrical, with two little black warts close together on 
the top of the fourth and of the eleventh rings. There are a 
few short, whitish hairs thinly scattered over the body, which 
is pale yellow, with three slender black lines on the back, and 
a broad dusky stripe, also marked with three black lines, on 
each side; and the head, fore legs, and spiracles are black. 
When fully grown, these caterpillars measure about an inch 



334 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

and a half in length. They live together, in swarms of twenty 
or more individuals, in a nest made of a single leaf folded or 
curled at the sides, and lined with a thin web of silk. An 
opening is left at each end of the nest; through the lower one 
the dirt made by the insects falls, and through the upper one, 
which is next to the leaf-stalk, the caterpillars go out to feed 
upon the leaves near to their nests. When young they some- 
times fold up one side of a leaf for a nest, and eat the other 
half. The stalks of the leaves, to which their nests are hung, 
become covered with silk from the threads carried along by 
the caterpillars in going over them; and these threads help to 
secure the nests to the branches. They eat all parts of the 
leaves except the stalks and larger veins, and frequently strip 
long shoots of their foliage in a very few days. Towards the 
end of September or early in October, according to the age of 
the different broods, they descend from the trees, disperse, and 
seek a shelter in crevices or under leaves and rubbish on the 
ground, where they make their cocoons. These are thin, 
irregular, silken webs, so loosely spun that the insects can be 
seen through them ; but they are protected by their situation, 
or by the dead leaves and other matters under which they are 
made. As soon as the cocoons are finished, the insects become 
chrysalids, and remain quiet through the winter; and about the 
middle of June, or somewhat later, they are transformed to 
moths. They belong to the genus Clostera, or spinner, so 
named on account of the spinning habits of the caterpillars. 
The antennae are narrowly feathered or pectinated in both 
sexes; the thorax has an elevated crest in the middle; the tail 
is tufted and turned up at the end, in the males ; the fore legs 
are thickly covered with hairs to the end, and are stretched 
out before the body when the insect is at rest. Our poplar 
spinner may be called Clostera Americana, the American Clos- 
tera. It closely resembles the European anastomosis, from 
which, however, it differs essentially in its caterpillar state, 
and the moth presents certain characters, which, on close com- 
parison with the European insect, will enable us to distinguish 
it from the latter. It is of a brownish gray color; the fore 
wings are faintly tinged with pale lilac, and more or less 



LEPIDOPTERA. 335 

clouded with rust-red; they have an irregular row of blackish 
dots near the outer hind margin, and are crossed by three 
whitish lines, of which the first nearest the shoulders is broken 
and widely separated in the middle, the second divides into 
two branches, one of which goes straight across the wing to 
the inner margin, and the other passes obliquely till it meets 
the end of the third line, with which it forms an angle or letter 
V; across the middle of the hind wings there is a narrow 
brownish band, much more distinct beneath than above ; on the 
top of the thorax there is an oblong chesnut-colored spot, the 
hairs of which rise upwards behind and form a crest. All the 
whitish lines on the fore wings are more or less bounded exter- 
nally with rust-red. It expands from one inch and one quarter 
to one inch and five eighths. In Georgia this insect breeds 
twice a year; and the caterpillars eat the leaves of the willow 
as well as those of the poplar.* 

2. Owlet-moths. [NocIike.) 

Our second tribe of moths, the Nocture of Linnaeus, appears 
to have been thus named from Noctua, an owl, because they 
fly chiefly by night, and are hence called eiilen, or owl-moths 
by the Germans. This tribe contains a very large number of 
thick-bodied and swift-flying moths, most of which may be 
distinguished by the following characters. The antennoe are 
long and tapering, and seldom pectinated even in the males ; 
the tongue is long ; the feelers are very distinct, and project 
more or less beyond the face, the two lower joints being com- 
pressed or flattened at the sides, and the last joint is slender 
and small ; the thorax is thick, with rather prominent collar 
and shoulders, and is often crested on the top ; the body tapers 
behind ; the wings are always fastened together by bristles 
and hooks, are generally roofed, when at rest, and each of the 
fore wings is marked behind the middle of the front margin 
with two spots, one of them round and small, and the other 
larger and kidney-shaped. A few of them fly by day, the 



* See Phalcena anastomosis of Smith, in Abbot's "Insects of Georgia," p. 143, 
pi. 72. 



336 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

others only at night. Then* colors are generally dull, and of 
some shade of gray or brown, and so extremely alike are they 
in their markings, that it is very ditlicult to describe them 
without the aid of figures, which cannot be expected in this 
treatise. The caterpillars are nearly cylindrical, for the most 
part naked, though some are hairy, slow in their motions, and 
generally provided with sixteen legs ; those with fewer legs 
never want the hindmost pair, and never raise the end of the 
body when at rest. Some of them make cocoons, but the rest 
go into the ground to transform. Many of the Noctuas vary 
more or less from the characters above given, and the tribe 
seems to admit of being divided into several smaller groups or 
families, under which their peculiarities might be more dis- 
tinctly pointed out. Unfortunately the history of most of our 
moths is still imperfectly known ; and, for this reason, as well 
as on account of the length to which the foregoing part of this 
treatise has already extended, I have concluded to suppress a 
considerable portion of my observations on the owlet-moths 
and the rest of the Lepidoptera^ and shall confine my remarks 
to a few of the most injurious species in each of the remaining 
tribes. 

The injury done to vegetation by the caterpillars of the 
Noctuas, or owlet-moths, is by no means inconsiderable, and 
sometimes becomes very great and apparent; but most of 
these insects are concealed from our observation during the 
day-time, and come out from their retreats to feed only at 
night. To turn them out of their hiding-places becomes 
sometimes absolutely necessary, and it is only by dear-bonght 
experience that we learn how to discover them. This is not 
the case with all ; those of the first family, which I would call 
Acronyctians (Acronyctad^*), live exposed on the leaves of 
trees and shrubs. They have sixteen legs, are cylindrical, and 
more or less hairy, some of them closely resembling those of 
the genus Clostera, having a wart or prominence on the top of 
the fourth and the eleventh rings, and some of them have the 



* From Acronycta, a genus of moths appearing at night-fall, as the name im- 
plies. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 337 

hair in tufts like Arctians and Liparians. They make tough 
silken cocoons, in texture almost like stiff brown paper, into 
which they weave the hairs of their bodies. Their moths have 
bristle-formed antenna?, and the thorax is not crested. Their 
fore wings are generally light gray with dark spots, and in 
many are marked with a character resembling the Greek letter 
y/ near the inner hind angle. Of those that want this charac- 
ter on the fore wings, the largest American species, known to 
me, may be called Apatela Americana, which has been mis- 
taken* for Apatela Aceris, the maple-moth of Europe. Its 
body and fore wdngs are light gray ; on the latter there is a 
wavy, scalloped white line edged externally with black near 
the outer hind margin, and the usual round and kidney-shaped 
spots are also edged with black ; the hind wings are dark gray 
in the male, blackish in the female, with a faintly marked 
black curved band and central semicircular spot; all the wings 
are whitish and shining beneath, with a black wavy and curved 
band and central semicircular spot on each ; the fringes are 
white, scalloped, and spotted with black. It expands from two 
inches and a quarter to two inches and a half, or more. This 
kind of moth flies only at night, and makes its appearance 
between the middle and the end of July. The caterpillar eats 
the leaves of the various kinds of maple, and sometimes also 
those of the elm, linden, and chestnut. It is one of the largest 
kinds ; and, early in October, when it arrives at maturity, 
measures from one inch and three quarters to two inches or 
more in length. It is of a greenish yellow color above, with 
the head, tail, belly, and feet black ; its body is covered with 
long and soft yellow hairs, growing immediately from the 
skin ; on the top of the fourth ring there are two long, slender, 
and erect tufts of black hairs, two more on the sixth ring, and 
a single pencil on the eleventh ring.f "While at rest, it re- 

* See Phal<ena Aceris, Smith, in Abbot's "Insects of Georgia," p. 185, pi. 93. 

t Those naturalists, who are familiar with the appearance of the European 
caterpillar of Apatela Aceris, will perceive the great and essential difference be- 
tween it and that of our American Apatela, which bears about as much resem- 
blance to the former as does that of Astasia torrefacta, of Sir J. E. Smith, an 
insect apparently belonging to the Notodontians, and near to Clostera and Py- 

43 



338 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

mains curled sidewise on a leaf. When about to make its 
cocoon it creeps into chinks of the bark, or into cracks in 
fences, and spins a loose, half-oval web of silk, intermixed with 
the hairs of its body ; under this it then makes another and 
tougher pod of silk, thickened with fragments of bark and 
wood, and, when its work is done, changes to a chrysalis, in 
which state it remains till the following summer. 

The caterpillars of the Nonagrians (Nonagriace*) are 
naked, long, slender, and tapering at each end, smooth, and 
generally of a faint reddish or greenish tint, with an oval, dark 
colored, horny spotf on the top of the first and last ring. 
Most of them live within the stems of reeds, flags, and other 
water-plants ; some in the stems, and even in the roots of 
plants remote from the water. They devour the pith and the 
inside of the roots, and transform in the same situations, hav- 
ing previously gnawed a hole from the inside of their retreat, 
through the side of the &tem or root to the outside skin, which 
is left untouched, and which the moth can easily break through 
afterwards. The chrysalids are generally very long and cylin- 
drical, and are blunt at the extremities. Most of the moths 
have very long bodies, a smooth thorax, and are of a yellowish 
clay or drab color; the fore wings want the usual spots, are 
faintly streaked and dotted with black, and have a scalloped 
hind margin. Those that do not live in water-plants are dis- 
tinguished by brighter colors of orange-yellow and brown, with 
the usual spots more or less distinct on the fore wings, the 
margin of which is wavy; the collar is prominent, and the 
thorax crested. In all of them the antennae of the males are 
slightly thickened with short hairs beneath. 

These insects are fatal to the plants attacked, the gi'cater 
part of which, however, are without value to the farmer. Indian 
corn must be excepted ; for it often suffers severely from the 

gcBra. Apatela signifies deceptive ; and this name was probably given to the 
genus because the caterpillars appear in the dress of Arctians and Liparians, but 
produce true owlet-moths or Noctuas. 

* From Nonagria, the meaning of which is uncertain. 

t These dark horny spots are found on the first ring of most of the caterpillars 
that burrow in the stems of plants, or in the ground. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 339 

depredations of one of these Nonagrians, known to our farmers 
by the name of the spindle-worm. The Rev. L. W. Leonard 
has favored me with a specimen of this insect, its chrysalis, 
and its moth, together with some remarks upon its habits ; 
and the latter have also been described to me by an intelligent 
friend, conversant with agriculture. This insect receives its 
common name from its destroying the spindle of the Indian 
corn ; but its ravages generally begin while the corn-stalk is 
young, and before the spindle rises much above the tuft of 
leaves in which it is embosomed. The mischief is discovered 
by the withering of the leaves, and, when these are taken hold 
of, they may often be drawn out with the included spindle. 
On examining the corn, a small hole may be seen in the side 
of the leafy stalk, near the ground, penetrating into the soft 
centre of the stalk, which, when cut open, will be found to be 
perforated, both upwards and downwards, by a slender worm- 
like caterpillar, whose excrementitious castings surround the 
orifice of the hole. This caterpillar grows to the length of an 
inch, or more, and to the thickness of a goose-quill. It is 
smooth, and apparently naked, yellowish, with the head, the 
top of the first and of the last rings black, and with a double 
row, across each of the other rings, of small, smooth, slightly 
elevated, shining black dots. With a magnifying glass a few 
short hairs can be seen on its body, arising singly from the 
black dots. This mischievous caterpillar is not confined to 
Indian corn, it attacks also the stems of the Dahlia, as I am 
informed, both by Mr. Leonard, and by the Rev. J. L. Russell, 
both of whom have observed its ravages in the stems of this 
favorite flower. It has also been found in the pith of the elder, 
and the same species of moth was produced from it, early in 
August, as from the spindle-worm of corn. The chrysalis, 
which is lodged in the burrow formed by the caterpillar, is 
slender, but not quite so long in proportion to its thickness as 
are those of most of the Nonagrians. It is shining mahogany- 
brown, with the anterior edges of four of the rings of the back 
roughened with little points, and four short spines or hooks, 
turned upwards, on the hinder extremity of the body. The 
moth produced from this insect differs from the other Non- 



340 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

agrians somewhat in form, its fore wings being shorter and 
more rounded at the tip. It may be called Gortyna* ZecB, the 
corn Gortyna ; Zea being the botanical name of Indian corn. 
The fore wings are rust-red ; they are mottled with gray, al- 
most in bands, uniting with the ordinary spots, which are also 
gray and indistinct ; there is an irregular tawny spot near the 
tip, and on the veins there are a few black dots. The hind 
wings are yellowish gray, with a central dusky spot, behind 
which are two faint, dusky bands. The head and thorax are 
rust-red, with an elevated tawny tuft on each. The abdomen 
is pale brown, with a row of tawny tufts on the back. The 
wings expand nearly one inch and a half. 

In order to check the ravages of these insects they must be 
destroyed while in the caterpillar state. As soon as our corn- 
fields begin to show, by the withering of the leaves, the usual 
signs that the enemy is at work in the stalks, the spindle- 
worms should be sought for and killed ; for, if allowed to 
remain undisturbed until they turn to moths, they will make 
their escape, and we shall not be able to prevent them from 
laying their eggs for another brood of these pestilent insects. 

A worm, or caterpillar, something like the spindle-worm, has 
often been found by farmers in potato-stalks ; and the potato- 
rot has sometimes been ascribed to its depredations. On the 
ninth of July, 1848, one of these caterpillars was brought to 
me in a potato-stalk from Watertown ; and, on the fifth of 
July, 1851, I found another within the stem of the pig-weed, 
or Chenopodimn. These caterpillars were of a livid hue, faintly 
striped with three whitish lines along the back. Their trans- 
formations have not yet been observed. 

The roots of the Columbine are attacked by another cater- 
pillar belonging to this family. It burrows into the bottom of 
the stalk and devours the inside of the roots, which it injures 
so much that the plant soon dies. One of these caterpillars, 
which was found in July, in the roots of a fine double Colum- 
bine in my garden, was of a whitish color, with a few black 

* Gortyna, in ancient geography, was the name of a city in Crete, so called 
from its founder. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 341 

dots on each of the rings, a brownish head, and the top of the 
first and of the last rings blackish. It grew to the length of 
about one inch and a quarter, turned to a chrysalis on the 
nineteenth of August, and came out a moth on the twenty- 
fourth of September. The moth closely resembles the Gortyna 
flavago of Europe, but is sufficiently distinct from it. It may 
be called Gortyna levcosli^ma^ the white-spot Gortyna. The 
fore wings are tawny yellow, sprinkled with purple-brown dots, 
and with two broad bands and the outer hind margin purple- 
brown ; there is a distinct tawny yellow spot on the tip, fol- 
lowed by a row of faint yellowish crescents between the 
brown band and margin ; the ordinary spots are yellow, mar- 
gined with brown, and there is a third oval spot of a white 
color near the round spot. The hind wings are pale buff or 
yellowish white, with a central spot, and a band behind it, of 
a brownish color. The head is brown ; the thorax is tawny 
yellow, with a brown tuft ; and the edges of the collar, and of 
the shoulder-covers are brown. The wings expand rather 
more than one inch and a half. I have what appear to be 
varieties of this moth, expanding one inch and three eighths, 
with three or four white dots around the kidney-spot, and the 
ordinary round spot wholly white. 

Numerous complaints have been made of the ravages of 
cut-worms among corn, wheat, grass, and other vegetables, in 
various parts of the country. After a tiresome search through 
many of our agricultural publications, I have become con- 
vinced that these insects and their history are not yet known 
to some of the very persons who are said to have suffered 
from their depredations. Various cut-worms, or more properly 
subterranean caterpillars, wire-worms or lull, and grub-worms, 
or the young of May-beetles, are often confounded together or 
mistaken for each other; sometimes their names are inter- 
changed, and sometimes the same name is given to each and 
all of these different animals. Hence the remedies that are 
successful in some instances are entirely useless in others. 
The name of cut-worm seems originally to have been given 
to certain caterpillars that live in the ground about the roots 
of plants, but come up in the night, and cut off and devour 



342 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the tender stems and lower leaves of young cabbages, beans, 
corn, and other herbaceous plants. These subterranean cater- 
pillars are finally transformed to moths belonging to a group 
which may be called Agrotidians (Agrotidid^), from a word 
signifying rustic, or pertaining to the fields. Some of these 
rustic moths fly by day, and may be found in the fields, es- 
pecially in the autumn, sucking the honey of flowers ; others 
are on the wing only at night, and during the day lie concealed 
in chinks of walls and other dark places. Their wings are 
nearly horizontal when closed, the upper pair completely cover- 
ing the lower wings, and often overlapping a little on their 
inner edges, thus favoring these insects in their attempts to 
obtain shelter and concealment. The thorax is slightly con- 
vex, but smooth or not crested. The antennEe of the males 
are generafly beset with two rows of short points, like fine 
teeth, on the under side, nearly to the tips. The fore legs are 
often quite spiny. Most of these moths come forth in July 
and August, and soon afterwards lay their eggs in the ground, 
in ploughed fields, gardens, and meadows. In Europe it is 
found that the eggs are hatched early in the autumn, at which 
time the little subterranean caterpillars live chiefly on the roots 
and tender sprouts of herbaceous plants. On the approach of 
winter they descend deeper into the ground, and, curling them- 
selves up, remain in a torpid state till the following spring, 
when they ascend towards the surface, and renew their de- 
vastations. The caterpillars of the Agrotidians are smooth, 
shining, naked, and dark-colored, with longitudinal pale and 
blackish stripes, and a few black dots on each ring; some of 
them also have a shining, horny, black spot on the top of the 
first ring. They are of a cylindrical form, tapering a little at 
each end, rather thick in proportion to their length, and are 
provided with sixteen legs. They are changed to chrysalids 
in the ground, without previously making silken cocoons. 
The most destructive kinds in Europe are the caterpillars of 
the corn rustic or winter dart-moth {Agrotis segetum), the 
wheat dart-moth {Agrotis tritici), the eagle-moth {Agrotis 
aquilina), and the turf rustic or antler-moth (Charcsas grami- 



LEPIDOPTERA. 343 

nis*). The first two attack both the roots and leaves of winter 
wheat; the second also destroys buckwheat; and it is stated 
that sixty bushels of mould, taken from a field where they 
prevailed, contained twenty-three bushels of the caterpillars ; 
those of the eagle-moth occasionally prove very destructive in 
vineyards ; and the caterpillars of the antler-moth are notorious 
for their devastations in meadows, and particularly in moun- 
tain pastures. 

The habits of our cut-worms appear to be exactly the same 
as those of the European Agrotidians. It is chiefly during 
the months of June and July that they are found to be most 
destructive. Whole corn-fields are sometimes laid waste by 
them. Cabbage-plants, till they are grown to a considerable 
size, are very apt to be cut off and destroyed by them. Potato- 
vines, beans, beets, and various other culinary plants suffer in 
the same way. The products of our flower-gardens are not 
spared ; asters, balsams, pinks, and many other kinds of flowers 
are often shorn of their leaves and of their central buds, by 
these concealed spoilers. Several years ago I procured a con-, 
siderable number of cut-worms in the months of June and 
July. Some of them were dug up among cabbage-plants, 
some from potato-hills, and others from the corn-field and the 
flower-garden. Though varying in length from one inch and 
a quarter to two inches, they were fully grown, and buried 
themselves immediately in the earth with which they were 
supplied. They were all thick, greasy-looking caterpillars, of 
a dark ashen gray color, with a brown head, a blackish horny 
spot on the top of the first and last rings, a pale stripe along 
the back, and several minute black dots on each ring. They 
were soon changed to chrysalids, of a shining mahogany-brown 
color ; and between the twentieth of July and the fifteenth of 
August they came out of the ground in the moth state. Much 
to my surprise, however, these cut-worms produced five differ- 
ent species of moths ; and, when it was too late, I regretted 
that they had not been more carefully examined, and compared 
together before their transformation. 

o 

* See "KoUar's Treatise," pp. 94, 102, 166, and 136. 



344 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The largest of these moths may be called Agrotis telifera^ 
the lance-rustic. It closely resembles Agrotis suffusa, the dark 
sword-rustic of Europe. The fore wings are light brown, 
shaded with dark brown along the outer thick edge, and in the 
middle also in the female; these wings are divided into three 
nearly equal parts by two transverse bands, each composed of 
two wavy dark brown lines ; in the middle space are situated 
the two ordinary spots, together with a third oval spot, which 
touches the anterior band; these spots are encircled with dark 
brown, and the kidney-spot bears a dark brown lance-shaped 
mark on its hinder part; the hindmost third of the wing is 
crossed by a broad pale band, and is ornamented by a narrow 
wavy or festooned line, and several small blackish spots near 
the margin. The hind wings are pearly white, and semitrans- 
parent, shaded behind, and veined with dusky brown. The 
thorax is brown or gray-brown, with the edge of the collar 
blackish. The abdomen is gray. The wings expand two 
inches or more. 

Another of these moths is the counterpart of the cequa and 
agricola of Europe, It also resembles the telifera in form, but 
is destitute of the lance-shaped spot on the fore wings; and 
hence I have named it Agrotis inermis, the unarmed rustic- 
moth. The fore wings are light brown, shaded in the middle 
and towards the hinder margin with dusky brown ; they are 
crossed by four, more or less distinct, wavy bands, each formed 
of two blackish lines ; the kidney-spot is dusky ; and there are 
several blackish spots on the outer thick edge of the wing. 
The hind wings are pearly white in the middle, shaded behind 
and veined with dusky brown. The thorax is reddish brown, 
with the collar and shoulder-covers doubly edged with black. 
The abdomen is gray. It expands two inches. 

The reaping rustic {Agrotis messoria), as it may be called, 
is the representative of the corn-rustic {Agrotis segetum) of 
Europe. The fore wings are reddish gray, crossed by five 
wavy blackish bands, the first two of which, and generally the 
fourth also, are double; the two ordinary spots, and a third 
oval spot near the middle of the wing, are bordered with black. 
The hind wings are whitish, becoming dusky brown behind. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 345 

and have a small central crescent and the veins dusky. The 
head and thorax are chinchilla-gray; the collar is edged with 
black ; and the abdomen is light brownish gray. It expands 
one inch and four tenths. 

The smallest of these rustic moths may be called Ag-rotis 
tessellata, the checkered rustic. It probably comes near to the 
ocellina and aqmlina of Europe, which, however, I have not 
seen. The fore wings are dark ash-colored, and exhibit only a 
faint trace of the transverse double wavy bands; the two ordi- 
nary spots are large and pale, and alternate with a triangular 
and a square deep black spot; there is a smaller black spot 
near the base of the wing. The hind wings are brownish 
gray in the middle, and blackish behind. It expands one inch 
and one quarter. 

The fifth species I am assured by one of my friends is the 
moth of the cabbage cut-worm. It agrees, in the main, with 
the description given of the Phalcsna Noctna devastator^ by Mr. 
John P. Brace, in the first volume of Professor Silliman's 
"American Journal of Science;" and may therefore be called 
Ag-rotis devastator. It somewhat resembles Dr. Boisduval's 
figures of the Ag-rotis latens of Europe. The fore wings are 
of a dark ashen gray color, with a lustre like satin; they are 
crossed by four narrow wavy whitish bands, which are edged 
on each side with black ; there is a transverse row of white 
dots followed by a row of black, arrow-shaped spots, between 
the third and fourth bands, and three white dots on the outer 
edge near the tip; the ordinary spots are edged with black and 
white, and there is a third spot, of an oval shape and blackish 
color, near the middle of the wing, and touching the second 
band. The hind wings are light brownish gray, almost of a 
dirty white in the middle, and dusky behind. The head and 
thorax are chinchilla-gray; and the abdomen is colored like 
the hind wings. It expands from one inch and five eighths to 
one inch and three quarters. This kind of moth is very com- 
mon betAveen the tenth of July and the middle of August. 
Like all the foregoing species, it flies only at night. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Brace, this moth lays its eggs in the beginning of 
autumn, at the roots of trees, and near the ground; the eggs 
44 



346 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

are hatched early in May; the cut-worms continue their depre- 
dations about four weeks, then cast their skin and become 
puptE or chrysalids in the earth, a few inches below the surface 
of the ground ; the pupa state lasts four weeks, and the moth 
comes out about the middle of July; it conceals itself in the 
crevices of buildings and beneath the bark of trees, and is 
never seen during the day ; about sunset it leaves its hiding- 
place, is constantly on the wing, is very troublesome about the 
candles in houses, flies rapidly, and is not easily taken.* From 
what is known respecting the history of the other kinds of 
Ag-rotis, and from the size that the cabbage cut-worms are 
found to have attained in May, I am led to infer that they 
must generally be hatched in the previous autumn, and that, 
after feeding awhile on such food as they can find immediately 
under the surface of the soil, they descend deeper into the 
ground and remain curled up, in little cavities which each one 
makes for itself in the earth, till the following spring. 

Dr. F. E. Melsheimer, of Dover, Pennsylvania, has favored 
me with the wing of a moth, which he states is produced from 
the corn cut-worm. The following remarks on this insect are 
extracted from his letters. " There are several species of 
Agrotis, the larvae of which are injurious to culinary plants; 
but the chief culprit with us is the same as that which is 
destructive to young maize." " The corn cut-worms make 
their appearance in great numbers at irregular periods, and 
confine themselves in their devastations to no particular vege- 
tables, all that are succulent being relished by these indiscrim- 
inate devourers; but, if their choice is not limited, they prefer 
maize plants when not more than a few inches above the 
earth, early sown buckwheat, young pumpkin-plants, young 
bea::s, cabbage-plants, and many other field and garden vege- 
tables." "When first disclosed from the eggs they subsist 
on the various grasses. They descend in the ground on the 
approach of severe frosts, and reappear in the spring about 
half grov/n. They seek their food in the night or in cloudy 
weather, and retire before sunrise into the ground, or beneath 



* " American Journixl oi Science," Vol. I., p. 154. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 347 

stones or any substance which can shelter them from the rays 
of the sun; here they remain coiled up during the day, except 
while devouring the food which they generally drag into their 
places of concealment. Their transformation to pupae occurs 
at different periods, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, accord- 
ing to the forwardness of the season, but usually not much 
later than the middle of July." " The moths, as well as the 
larvae, vary much in the depth of their color, from a pale ash 
to a deep or obscure brown. The ordinary spots of the upper 
wings of the moth are always connected by a blackish line ; 
where the color is of the deepest shade these spots are scarcely 
visible, but when the color is lighter they are very obvious." 
Since the foregoing was written, 1 have repeatedly obtained 
the same moths from cut-worms here. The latter seem, in- 
deed, to be the most common kind ; but they differ very little 
from the cut-worms already described. They vary somewhat 
in color, as remarked by Dr. Melsheimer. Young ones are 
always more or less distinctly marked above with pale and 
dark stripes, and are uniformly paler below. The m.oth is 
very abundant in the New England States, from the middle 
of June till the middle or end of August. The fore wings are 
generally of a dark ash-color, with only a very faint trace of 
the double transverse wavy bands that are found in most spe- 
cies of Agrotis; the two ordinary spots are small and narrow, 
the anterior spot being oblong oval, and connected with the 
oblique kidney-shaped spot, by a longitudinal black line. The 
hind wings are dirty brownish white, somewhat darker behind. 
The head, the collar, and the abdomen are chestnut-colored. 
It expands one inch and three quarters. The wings, when 
shut, overlap on their inner edges, and cover the top of the 
back so flatly and closely that these moths can get into very 
narrow crevices. During the day they lie hidden under the 
bark of trees, in the chinks of fences, and even under the loose 
clapboards of buildings. When the blinds of our houses are 
opened in the morning, a little swarm of these insects, which 
had crept behind them for concealment, is sometimes exposed, 
and suddenly aroused from their daily slumber. This kind of 
moth has the form and general appearance of some species of 



348 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Pyrophila, but not the essential characters of the genus. It 
differs also from Agrotis and Graphiphora in some respects, 
and therefore I have thought it best to leave it, for the present, 
in the old genus Noctua, under the specific name of clandestina, 
the clandestine owlet-moth. 

Among the various remedies that have been proposed for 
preventing the ravages of cut-worms in wheat and corn fields, 
may be mentioned the soaking of the grain, before planting, 
in copperas-water and other solutions supposed to be dis- 
agreeable to the insects; rolling the seed in lime or ashes; 
and mixing salt with the manure. These may prevent wire- 
worms (luli) and some insects from destroying the seed; but 
cut-worms prey only on the sprouts and young stalks, and do 
not eat the seeds. Such stimulating applications may be of 
some benefit, by promoting a more rapid and vigorous growth 
of the grain, by which means the sprouts will the sooner be- 
come so strong and rank as to resist or escape the attacks of 
the young cut-worms. Fall-ploughing of sward-lands, which 
are intended to be sown with wheat or planted with corn the 
year following, will turn up and expose the insects to the 
inclemency of winter, whereby many of them will be killed, 
and will also bring them within reach of insect-eating birds. 
But this seems to be a doubtful remedy, against which many 
objections have been urged.* The only effectual remedy at 
present known, has been humorously described by Mr. Asahel 
Foote in the " Albany Cultivator," and reprinted in the seven- 
teenth volume of the " New England Farmer." After having 
lost more than a tenth part of the corn in his field, he " ordered 
his men to prepare for war, to sharpen their finger ends, and 
set at once about exhuming the marauders. For several days 
it seemed as if a whole procession came to each one's funeral, 
but at length victory wreathed the brow of perseverance; and, 
the precaution having been taken to replace each foe dislodged 
with a suitable quantity of good seed-corn, he soon had the 
pleasure to see his field restored, in a good measure, to its 
original order and beauty, there being seldom a vacancy in a 

* See Mr. Colman's "Third Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts," p. 62. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 349 

piece of four acres." Mr. Foote's statement, founded on an 
estimate of the time employed in digging up and killing the 
cut-worms, and the increased produce of the field, is conclusive 
in favor of this mode of checking the ravages of these insects. 

Mr. Deane states that he "once prevented the depredations 
of cut-worms in his garden by manuring the soil with sea-mud. 
The plants generally escaped, though every one was cut off in 
a spot of ground contiguous." He acknowledges, however, 
that "the most effectual, and not a laborious remedy, even in 
field-culture, is to go round every morning, and open the earth 
at the foot of the plant, and you will never fail to find the 
worm at the root, within four inches. Kill him, and you will 
save not only the other plants of your field, but, probably, 
many thousands in future years." Mr. Preston, of Stockport, 
Pennsylvania, protected his cabbage-plants from cut-worms by 
wrapping a walnut or hickory leaf around the stem, between 
the roots and leaves, before planting it in the ground. The 
late Honorable Oliver Fiske, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
says, that " to search out the spoiler, and kill him, is the very 
best course ; but, as his existence is not known except by his 
ravages, I make a fortress for my cabbage-plants with paper, 
winding it conically and firmly above the root, and securing it 
by a low embankment of earth." 

In the summer of 1851, one of our agricultural newspapers 
contained an account of certain naked caterpillars, that came 
out of the ground in the night, and, crawling up the trunks of 
fruit-trees, devoured the leaves, and returned to conceal them- 
selves in the ground before morning.* Perhaps these depre- 
dators were the same as the following. Roses, currant-bushes, 
and other shrubs, and even young trees, often lose their tender 
shoots, by having them cut off and devoured during the night. 
This is the work of a naked caterpillar, which generally grows 
to a larger size than the common cut-worm, and, like the latter, 
may be found by digging at the root of the plant. One of 
these spoilers, which was turned out of his burrow early in 
June, measured an inch and a half in length. His body was 

* See Massachusetts Ploughman, for June 28, 1851. 



350 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

livid or brownish and shining above, with a chestnut-colored 
head, and a horny spot of the same color on the top of the 
first and last rings. A few minute dots, producing very short 
inconspicuous hairs, were regularly disposed upon his body. 
This caterpillar changed to a chrysalis in the ground, and was 
transformed to a moth on the first of July. The moth very 
often enters houses in the evening, during the months of July 
and August, and, in its restrained flight, keeps bobbing against 
the ceiling and walls. When it alights, it sits with its wings 
sloping in the form of a steep roof. It is easily distinguished 
by its Spanish brown upper wings, marked with a large pale 
kidney-spot, and a broad wavy blue-gray band near the end. 
Its eyes when living shine like coals of fire. It has been 
described by mistake as a British species, under the name of 
Hudena arnica^ or the barred arches-moth. The wings of this 
moth expand an inch and three quarters, or more, and are 
proportionally broader than those of the cut-worm moths. 
The general color of the fore wings, as already stated, is deep 
Spanish brown, variegated with gray. The small ordinary 
oval spot is marked by a gray border. The kidney-spot is 
large, gray, and very conspicuous. There is a broad wavy 
band of a pearl-gray or blue-gray color near the outer hind 
margin, and a narrow wavy band between the oval spot and 
shoulder. The hind wings are pale ash-colored, shaded behind 
with brown, having a pale border, and a distinct central black- 
ish spot beneath. The head and thorax are dark brown ; the 
collar and tips of the shoulder-covers are edged with rust-red ; 
and the hind body is ash-colored or pale brown, with a row of 
four rust-red tufts upon it. This common moth belongs to 
the same group or family as the following species, though 
differing therefrom in its caterpillar state. 

There is another naked caterpillar which is often found to 
be injurious to cabbages, cauliflowers, spinach, beets, and other 
garden vegetables with succulent leaves. It does not conceal 
itself in the ground, but lives exposed on the leaves of the 
plants which it devours. When disturbed, it coils its body 
spirally. It is of a light yellow color, with three broad, longi- 
tudinal, black stripes, one on each side and the third on the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 351 

top of the back; and the head, belly, and feet are tawny. 
The lateral black stripe is worthy of attentive examination. 
It consists of numerous transverse black marks, somewhat like 
Runic letters, on a pure white ground; but the white ground, 
when seen without a glass, seems blue, by contrast with the 
black characters. Dr. Melsheimer calls this the zebra-caterpillar, 
on account of its stripes. It comes to its full size here in 
September, and then measures about two inches in length. 
Early in October it leaves off eating, goes into the ground, 
changes to a shining brown chrysalis, and is transformed to a 
moth about the first of June. It is probable that there are 
two broods of this kind of caterpillar every summer, in some, 
if not all parts of this country; for Dr. JNIelsheimer informs 
me that it appears in Pennsylvania in June, goes into the 
ground and is changed to a chrysalis towards the end of June 
or the beginning of July, and comes forth in the moth state 
near ths end of August. The moth may be called Mamestra 
picia, the painted Mamestra, in allusion both to the beautiful 
tints of the caterpillar, and to the softly blended shades of 
dark and light brown with which the fore wings of the moth 
are colored. It is of a light brown color, shaded v/ith purple 
brcw'n; the ordinary spots on the fore wings, with a tLird oval 
spot behind the round one, are edged v\dth gray; and there is 
a transverse zigzag gray line, forming a distinct "W ia the 
middle, near the outer hind margin. The hind wings are 
w^hite, and faintly edged with brown around the tip. It is 
evident that this insect cannot be included in either of the 
foregoing groups of the owlet-moths. It belongs to a distmct 
family, which may be called jMa.mestrad^, or Mamestrians. 
The caterpillars in this group are generally distinguished by 
their bright colors; they live more or less exposed on the leaves 
of plants, and transform in the ground. The moths fly by 
night only; most of them have the thorax slightly crested; 
and they are easily known by the zigzag line, near the outer 
hind margin of the fore wings, forming a W or M in the middle. 
As the caterpillar of the painted Mamestra does not seek 
concealment, it may easily be found, and destroyed by hand* 



352 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

There is a small caterpillar which has been found injurious 
to the wheat-crop in England, by eating the grain before and 
after it is ripe. It is described and figured by Mr. John Cur- 
tis, in the fifth volume of the "Journal of the Royal Agricul- 
tural Society of England," (pp. 477-481). Though unable to 
rear any of these caterpillars, which always shrivelled up and 
died, Mr. Curtis, for reasons stated by him, was impressed 
with the conviction that they were produced by a moth, called 
Noctua ( Caradrina) cubicularis. Our agricultural newspapers 
contain accounts of certain caterpillars, much like the fore- 
going in appearance and in habits, which devour the grains of 
wheat while growing and after being harvested. Their trans- 
formations have not been ascertained ; and, on account of the 
diminutive size of these caterpillars, it remains uncertain 
whether they are the offspring of any species of Noctua. 
Nevertheless, this seems to be the most suitable place to 
record what has been said and seen of them. They have 
been called wheat-worms, gray worms, and 6rown weevils ; 
and, although these different names may possibly refer to two 
or more distinct species, I am inclined to believe that all of 
them arc intended for only one kind of ixisect. The no. me of 
grain-v7orms has likevvuse somet/mes been applied to ihcm ; 
whereby it becomes somewhat difficult to separate the accounts 
of their history and depredations from those of the wlieat- 
insect, called Cecidomyia TriticL It may, however, very safely 
be asserted that the wheat-Vv'orm of the .vestern part of New 
York and of the northern part^ of Pennsylvania is entirely 
distinct from the maggots of our v/heat-fly, and thp.t it does 
not belong to the same order of ir. sects. Mr. "Willis Gcylord 
described this dspredator as a kind of caterpillar, or span- 
worm, from three to five eighths of an inch long, of a j^ellcwish 
brown cr butternut color, provided with tvvelve legs, and 
having the power of spinning and suspfindi:":g itself by a 
thread. Ke stated thcit it iQd not only on the kernel iu the 
milky state, but also devoured the germinating eno. of the 
ripened grain, without, however, burying itself within the hull; 
and that it was found, in great numbers, in the chaiT, when 



LEPIDOPTERA. 353 

the grain was threshed. According to him, it had been known 
for years in the western part of New York ; and it was not so 
much the new appearance of the insect, as its increase, which 
had caused alarm respecting it.* Mr. Nathaniel Sill, of War- 
ren, Pennsylvania, has given a somewhat different description 
of it.f On threshing his winter-wheat, immediately after har- 
vest, he found among the screenings a vast army of this new 
enemy. He says that it was a caterpillar, about three eighths 
of an inch in length, when fully grown, and apparently of a 
straw color; but, when seen through a magnifier, was found to 
be striped lengthwise with orange and cream color. Its head 
was dark brown. It was provided with legs, could suspend 
itself by a thread, and resembled a caterpillar in all its motions. 
This insect ought not to be confounded with the smaller 
worms found by Mr. Sill in the upper joints of the stems of 
the wheat, and within the kernels, until their identity has been 
proved by further observations. It appears highly probable 
that Mr. Gaylord's and Mr. Sill's wheat-caterpillars are the 
same, notwithstanding the difference in their color. Insects, 
of the same size as these caterpillars, and of a brownish color, 
have been found in various parts of Maine, where they have 
done much injury to the grain. Unlike the maggots of the 
wheat-fly, with which they have been confounded, they remain 
depredating upon the ears of the grain until after the time of 
harvest. Immense numbers of them have been seen upon 
barn-floors, where the grain has been threshed, but they soon 
crawl away and conceal themselves in crevices, where they 
probably undergo their transformations. Mr. Elijah Wood, of 
Winthrop, Maine, says that the chrysalis has been observed in 
the chaff late in the fall. J A gentleman, from the southern part 
of Penobscot county, informs me that he winnowed out nearly 
a bushel of these insects from his wheat, in the autumn of 1840 ; 
and he confirms the statements of others, that these worms 
devour the grain when in the milk, and also after it has 
become hard. In the autumn of 1838, the Rev. Henry Col- 

* "The Cultivator," Yol. VI., p. 43. f "The Cultivator," Vol. VI., p. 21. 
X "New England Farmer," Vol. XVII., p. 73. 

45 



354 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

man observed the same insect in the town of Egremont, in 
Berkshire county, Massachusetts. It was separated from the 
wheat, in great quantities, by threshing and winnowing the 
grain.* On the twenty-sixth of September, 1846, my brother 
brought to me a sample of wheat-ears, from Dixmont, Maine, 
containing five of these insects, of different sizes. The largest 
measured five eighths of an inch in length, when fully ex- 
tended. It was a very slender caterpillar, having sixteen legs, 
and was not a true span-worm either in structure or motions. 
It was of a pale reddish brown color, with three longitudinal 
paler or colorless lines on the back, and a broader pale stripe 
on each side of the body. The head and the tops of the first 
and last segments were shining brown. A few minute black 
points (each furnishing a short inconspicuous hair) were regu- 
larly disposed on each segment. The body beneath and all 
the legs were pale brownish red. Many of the kernels of 
wheat had been gnawed by these caterpillars; but they refused 
to eat any more, and died without change. In the summer of 
1850, Dr. Ovid Plumb had the kindness to send to me some 
younger specimens of these caterpillars, from Salisbury, Con- 
necticut, where they had long prevailed in the wheat-fields; 
and I saw them in the wheat at the same place, on the twenty- 
fifth of July, 1851. They had grown only to the length of 
three sixteenths or one fourth of an inch at most ; but they 
resembled the larger specimens from Maine in all essential 
particulars. They were too young and delicate to survive the 
effects of a journey without fresh food, which could not be 
procured for them after my return. When disturbed, they 
readily suspended themselves by a slender thread, were very 
uneasy on being taken from the ears, and were quick in all 
their motions. Previous accounts concerning their habits and 
depredations were fully confirmed by observations and infor- 
mation at Salisbury. These wheat- worms, or wheat-cater- 
pillars, as they ought to be called, if these accounts really refer 
to the same kind of insect, are supposed by some persons to 
be identical with the clover-worms, which have been found in 

* " Second Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts," p. 99. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 355 

clover, in various parts of the country, and have often been 
seen spinning down from lofts and mows where clover has 
been stowed away.* A striking similarity between them has 
been noticed by a writer in the " Genesee Farmer." f Stephen 
Sibley, Esq., informs me that he observed the clover-worms, in 
Hopkinton, New Hampshire, many years ago, suspended in 
such numbers by their threads from a newly gathered clover 
mow, and from the timbers of the building, as to be very 
troublesome and offensive to persons passing through the barn. 
He also states, that if he recollects rightly, these insects were 
of a brown color, and about half an inch long. I am sorry to 
leave the history of these wheat-worms unfinished ; but hope 
that the foregoing statements, which have been carefully col- 
lected from various sources and compared with my own obser- 
vations, will tend to remove some of the difficulties wherewith 
the subject has been heretofore involved. The contradictory 
statements and unsatisfactory discussions, that have appeared 
in some of our papers, respecting the ravages of these worms 
and the maggots of the wheat-fly, might have been avoided, 
if the writers on these insects had always been careful to give 
a correct and full description of the insects in question. Had 
this been done, a crawling-worm or caterpillar, of a brownish 
color, three eighths or half of an inch in length, provided with 
legs, and capable of suspending itself by a silken thread of its 
own spinning, would never have been mistaken for a writhing 
maggot, of a deep yellow color, only one tenth of an inch long, 
destitute of legs, and unable to spin a thread. As these de- 
structive wheat-caterpillars may be separated from the wheat 
by threshing and winnowing, — the chaff containing them may 
be put into large tubs, into which also a sufficient quantity of 
boiling hot water may then be poured to kill all the insects. 
This will at least prevent their making their escape, com- 
pleting their transformations, and laying the foundation of 
another brood. 

At the end of the tribe of owlet-moths may be arranged 

* "New England Farmer," Vol. XVIL, p. 73. 
t " New England Farmer," Vol. XVII., p. 164. 



356 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

certain insects, which, from the structure of their caterpillars 
and their manner of creeping, evidently seem to connect this 
tribe with the Geometers. Some of these caterpillars have 
the first and sometimes also the second pair of proplegs, under 
the middle of the body, so short, that they cannot be used in 
creeping ; others have only twelve or fourteen legs, the first 
pair of the proplegs, or the second also, being entirely wanting 
in them. These caterpillars creep with a kind of halting gait, 
and arch up the middle of the body, more or less, with every 
step they take, thereby imitating the gait of the true geome- 
ters or span-worms. To this group belong the army-worms 
or cotton-worms, which ravage the cotton-fields of the Southern 
States. They have sixteen legs; but the foremost proplegs 
are shorter than the rest, and the caterpillars crook their backs 
in creeping, which has caused them to be mistaken for geome- 
ters by some writers. The cotton-worm is green, doubly 
striped with black on the back, and sprinkled with black dots. 
It grows to the length of an inch and a half, transforms in a 
kind of web or imperfect cocoon, and becomes an olive-brown 
moth, called Noctua xylina by Mr. Say. It is found only as 
far as the cotton plant is cultivated, and never occurs in New 
England. The twelve-legged caterpillars are sometimes 
injurious to cultivated vegetables; but not enough so, in this 
country, to have attracted much notice. Their moths are 
distinguished by golden or silvery spots on their fore wings. 
The species, with the first and second pairs of proplegs short 
and rudimentary, feed mostly on the leaves of shrubs and 
trees ; their moths are of large size, with the hind wings often 
crimson, scarlet, or yellow, and traversed by black bands. But 
as these insects are not particularly interesting to the farmer, 
any further account of them, in this treatise, will be unneces- 
sary. 

8. Geometers. ( GeometrcB.) 

The caterpillars of the Geometry of Linnaeus, earth- 
measurers, as the term implies, or geometers, span-worms, and 
loopers, have received these several names from their peculiar 
manner of moving, in which they seem to measure or span 



LEPIDOPTERA. 357 

over the ground, step by step, as they proceed. Most of these 
caterpillars have only ten legs; namely, six, which are jointed 
and tapering, under the fore part of the body, and four fleshy 
proplegs, at the hinder extremity; the three intermediate pairs 
of proplegs being wanting. Consequently, in creeping, they 
arch up the back while tiiey bring forward the hinder part of 
the body, and then resting on their hind legs, stretch out to 
their full length, in a straight line, before taking another step 
with their hind legs. Some of the Geometers have twelve or 
fourteen legs; but the additional proplegs are so short that the 
caterpillars cannot use them in creeping, and their motions are 
the same as those that have only ten legs. Some caterpillars 
with fourteen legs, and wanting only the terminal pair of 
proplegs, are placed in this tribe on account of the resemblance 
of their moths to those of the true Geometers. The latter live 
on trees and bushes, and most of them undergo their transfor- 
mations upon or in the ground, to reach which, by travelling 
along the branches and down the stem, would be a long and 
tedious journey to them, on account of the deficiency of their 
legs, and the slowness of their gait. But they are not reduced 
to this necessity; for they have the power of letting themselves 
down from any height, by means of a silken thread, which 
they spin from their mouths while falling. Whenever they 
are disturbed they make use of this faculty, drop suddenly, 
and hang suspended, till the danger is past, after which they 
climb up again by the same thread. In order to do this, the 
span-worm bends back its head and catches hold of the thread 
above its head with one of the legs of the third segment, then 
raising its head it seizes the thread with its jaws and fore legs, 
and, by repeating the same operations with tolerable rapidity, 
it soon reaches its former station on the tree. These span- 
worms are naked, or only thinly covered with very short down; 
they are mostly smooth, but sometimes have warts or irregular 
projections on their backs. They change their color usually 
as they grow older, are sometimes striped, and sometimes of 
one uniform color, nearly resembling the bark of the plants on 
which they are found. When not eating, many of them rest 
on the two hindmost pairs of legs against the side of a branch, 



358 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

with the body extended from the branch, so that they might 
be mistaken for a twig of the tree ; and in this position they 
will often remain for hours together. When about to trans- 
form, most of these insects descend from the plants on which 
they live, and either bury themselves in the ground, or conceal 
themselves on the surface under a slight covering of leaves 
fastened together with silken threads. Some make more 
regular cocoons, which, however, are very thin, and generally 
more or less covered on the outside with leaves. The cocoons 
of the European, tailed Geometer ( Ourapteryx sambncaria), 
which lives on the elder, and of our chain-dotted Geometer 
[Geometra catenaria), which is found on the wood -wax, are 
made with regular meshes, like net-work, through which the 
insects may be seen. A very few of the span-worms fasten 
themselves to the stems of plants, and are changed to chrysa- 
lids, which hang suspended, without the protection of any 
outer covering. 

In their perfected state these insects are mostly slender- 
bodied moths, with tapering antennae, which are often feathered 
in the males. Their feelers are short and slender; the tongue 
is short and weak ; the thorax is not crested; the wings are 
large, thin, and delicate, sometimes angular, and often marked 
with one or two dark-colored oblique bands. They generally 
rest with the wings slightly inclined and almost horizontal; 
some with them extended, and others with the hind wings 
covered by the upper pair. A very few carry their wings like 
the Skippers. Some of the females are without wings, and 
are distinguished also by the oval and robust form of their 
bodies. These moths are most active in the night; but some 
of them may be seen flying in thickets during the day-time. 
They are very short-lived, and die soon after their eggs are 
laid. 

Those kinds, whereof the females are wingless, or have only 
very short, scale-like wings, and naked antennae, while the 
males have large, entire wings, and feathered or downy an- 
tennae, seem to form a distinct group, which may be named 
Hybernians (Hyberniad^), from the principal genus included 
therein. The caterpillars have only ten legs, six before and 



LEPIDOPTERA. 359 

four behind; and they undergo their transformations in the 
ground. The insects called canker-worms, in this country, are 
of this kind. The moths, from which they are produced, be- 
long to the genus Anisopteryx* so named because in some 
species the wings in the two sexes are very unequal in size, 
and in others the females are wingless. Among those whose 
females are wingless are the canker-worm moths. In the late 
Professor Peck's " Natural History of the Canker-worm," 
which was published among the papers of " the Massachu- 
setts Society for Promoting Agriculture," and obtained a 
prize from the Society, this insect is called Phalccna vernata, 
on account of its common appearance in the spring, and also 
to distinguish it from the winter moth {Phalcena or Cheimato- 
bia hrnmata) of Europe. In the male canker-worm moth the 
antennae have a very narrow, and almost downy edging, on 
each side, hardly to be seen with the naked eye. The feelers 
are minute, and do not extend beyond the mouth. The 
tongue is not visible. The wings are large, very thin and 
silky ; and, when the insect is at rest, the fore wings are 
turned back, entirely cover the hind wings, and overlap on 
their inner edges. The fore wings are ash-colored, with a 
distinct whitish spot on the front edge, near the tip ; they are 
crossed by two jagged, whitish bands, along the sides of which 
there are several blackish dots ; the outermost band has an 
angle near the front ege, within which there is a short, faint, 
blackish line; and there is a row of black dots, along the outer 
margin, close to the fringe. The hind wings are pale ash- 
colored, with a faint blackish dot near the middle. The wings 
expand about one inch and a quarter. This is the usual ap- 
pearance of the male, in its most perfect condition ; by which 
it will be seen that it closely resembles the Anisopteryx JEscu- 
laria of Europe. Compared with the latter, I find that our 
canker-worm moth is rather smaller, the wings are darker, 
proportionally shorter and more obtuse, the white bands are 
less distinct, and are often entirely wanting, in which case 
only the whitish spot near the tip remains, the hind wings are 

* Literally unequal loing. 



360 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

more dusky, and the feelers are gray instead of being white. 
Specimens, of a rather smaller size, are sometimes found, re- 
sembling the figure and description given by Professor Peck, 
in which the whitish bands and spot are wanting, and there 
are three interrupted dusky lines across the fore wings, with 
an oblique blackish dash near the tip. Perhaps they constitute 
a different species from that of the true canker-worm moth. 
Should this be the case, the latter may be called Anisopteryx 
pometai'ia, or the Anisopteryx of the orchard, while the former 
should retain the name originally given to it by Professor 
Peck. The female is wingless, and its antennae are short, 
slender, and naked. Its body approaches to an oval form, but 
tapers and is turned up behind. It is dark ash-colored above, 
and gray beneath. 

It was formerly supposed that the canker-worm moths came 
out of the ground only in the spring. It is now known that 
many of them rise in the autumn and in the early part of the 
winter. In mild and open winters I have seen them in every 
month from October to March. They begin to make their 
appearance after the first hard frosts in the autumn, usually 
towards the end of October, and they continue to come forth, 
in greater or smaller numbers, according to the mildness or 
severity of the weather after the frosts have begun. Their 
general time of rising is in the spring, beginning about the 
middle of March, but sometimes before, and sometimes after 
this time ; and they continue to come forth for the space of 
about three weeks. It has been observed that there are more 
females than males among those that appear in the autumn 
and winter, and that the males are most abundant in the 
spring. The sluggish females instinctively make their way 
towards the nearest trees, and creep slowly up their trunks. 
In a few days afterwards they are followed by the winged and 
active males, which flutter about and accompany them in their 
ascent, during which the insects pair. Soon after (this, the 
females lay their eggs upon the branches of the trees, placing 
them on their ends, close together in rows, forming clusters of 
from sixty to one hundred eggs or more, which is the number 
usually laid by each female. The eggs are glued to each 



LEPIDOPTERA. 361 

other, and to the bark, by a grayish varnish, which is imper- 
vious to water ; and the clusters are thus securely fastened in 
the forks of the small branches, or close to the young twigs 
and buds. Immediately after the insects have thus provided 
for a succession of their kind, they begin to languish, and soon 
die. The eggs are usually hatched between the first and the 
middle of May, or about the time that the red currant is in 
blossom, and the young leaves of the apple-tree begin to start 
from the bud and grow. The little canker-worms, upon mak- 
ing their escape from the eggs, gather upon the tender leaves, 
and, on the occurrence of cold and wet weather, creep for shel- 
ter into the bosom of the bud, or into the flowers, when the 
latter appear. As this treatise may fall into the hands of per- 
sons who are not acquainted with the habits and devastations 
of our canker-worms, it should be stated that, where these in- 
sects prevail, they are most abundant on apple and elm trees ; 
but that cherry, plum, and lime trees, and some other cultivated 
and native trees, as well as many shrubs, often suffer severely 
from their voracity. The leaves first attacked will be found 
pierced with small holes; these become larger and more irreg- 
ular when the canker-worms increase in size ; and, at last, the 
latter eat nearly all the pulpy parts of the leaves, leaving little 
more than the midrib and veins. A very great difference of 
color is observable among canker-worms of different ages, and 
even among those of the same age and size. It is possible 
that some of these variations may arise from a difference of 
species ; but it is also true that the same species varies much 
in color. When very young, they have two minute warts on 
the top of the last ring; and they are then generally of a black- 
ish or dusky brown color, with a yellowish stripe on each side 
of the body; there are two whitish bands across the head; and 
the belly is also whitish. When fully grown, these individuals 
become ash-colored on the back, and black on the sides, below 
which the pale yellowish line remains. Some are found of a 
dull greenish yellow and others of a clay color, with slender 
interrupted blackish lines on the sides, and small spots of the 
same color on the back. Some are green, with two white 
stripes on the back. The head and the feet partake of the 
46 



362 INSECTS INJURIOrS TO VEGETATIOX. 

general color of the body ; the belly is paler. When not eat- 
ing, they remain stretched out at full length, and resting on 
their fore and hind legs, beneath the leaves. When fully 
grown and well fed, they measure nearly or quite one inch in 
length. They leave off eating when about four weeks old,* 
and begin to quit the trees ; some creep down by the trunk, 
but great numbers let themselves down by their threads from 
the branches, their instincts prompting them to get to the 
gi'ound by the most direct and easiest course. When thus 
descending, and suspended in great numbers under the limbs 
of trees overhanging the road, they are often swept off by pass- 
ing carriages, and are thus conveyed to other places. After 
reaching the ground, they immediately burrow in the earth, to 
the depth of from two to six inches, unless prevented by weak- 
ness or the nature of the soil. In the latter case, they die, or 
undergo their transformations on the surface. Li the former, 
they make little cavities or cells in the ground, by turning 
round repeatedly and fastening the loose grains of earth about 
them with a few silken threads. Within twenty-four hours 
afterwards, they are changed to chrysalids in their cells. The 
chrysalis is of a light brown color, and varies in size according 
to the sex of the insect contained in it ; that of the female 
being the largest, and being destitute of a covering for wings, 
which is found in the chrysalis of the males. The occun-ence 
of mild weather after a severe frost stimulates some of these 
insects to burst their chrysalis skins and come forth in the per- 
fected state ; and this last transformation, as before stated, 
may take place in the autumn, or in the course of the winter, 
as well as in the spring ; it is also retarded, in .some individ- 
uals, for a year or more beyond the usual time. They come 
out of the ground mostly in the night, when they may be seen 
struggling through the grass as far as the limbs extend from 
the body of the trees under which they had been buried. As 
the females are destitute of wings, they are not able to wander 



* In the year 1841, the red currant flowered, and the canker-worms appeared, 
o» the fifteenth of May. The insects were very abundant on the fifteenth of 
June, and on the seventeenth scarcely one was to be seen. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 363 

far from the trees upon which they have lived in the caterpillar 
state. Canker-worms are therefore naturally confined to a 
very limited space, from which they spread year after year. 
Accident, however, will often carry them far from their native 
haunts, and in this way, probably, they have extended to 
places remote from each other. Where they have become 
established, and have been neglected, their ravages are often 
very great. In the early part of the season the canker-worms 
do not attract much attention ; but it is in June, Vv^hen they 
become extremely voracious, that the mischief they have done 
is rendered apparent, when we have before us the melancholy 
sight of the foliage of our fruit-trees and of our noble elms 
reduced to withered and lifeless shreds, and whole orchards 
looking as if they had been suddenly scorched with fire. 

In order to protect our trees from the ravages of canker- 
worms, where these looping spoilers abound, it should be our 
aim, if possible, to prevent the wingless females from ascend- 
ing the trees to deposit their eggs. This can be done by the 
application of tar around the body of the tree, either directly 
on the bark, as has been the most common practice, or, what 
is better, over a broad belt of clay-mortar, or on strips of old 
canvass or of strong paper, from six to twelve inches ^vide, 
fastened around the trunk with strings. The tar must be ap- 
plied as early as the first of November, and perhaps in Octo- 
ber, and it should be renewed daily as long as the insects 
continue rising; after which the bands may be removed, and 
the tar should be entirely scraped from the bark. When all 
this has been properly and seasonably done, it has proved 
effectual. The time, labor, and expense attending the use of 
tar, and the injury that it does to the trees when allowed to run 
and remain on the bark, have caused many persons to neglect 
this method, and some to try various modifications of it, and 
other expedients. Among the modifications may be mentioned 
a horizontal and close-fitting collar of boards, fastened around 
the trunk, and smeared beneath with tar; or four boards, nailed 
together, like a box without top or bottom, around the base of 
the tree, to receive the tar on the outside. These can be used 
to protect a few choice trees in a garden, or around a house or 



364 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

a public square, but will be found too expensive to be applied 
to any great extent. Collars of tin-plate, fastened around the 
trees, and sloping downwards like an inverted tunnel, have 
been proposed, upon the supposition that the moths would not 
be able to creep in an inverted position, beneath the smooth 
and sloping surface. This method will also prove too expen- 
sive for general adoption, even should it be found to answer 
the purpose. A belt of cotton-wool, which it has been thought 
would entangle the feet of the insects, and thus keep them from 
ascending the trees, has not proved an effectual bar to them. 
Little square or circular troughs of tin or of lead, filled with 
cheap fish oil, and placed around the trees, three fee;t or more 
above the surface of the ground, with a stuffing of cloth, hay, 
or sea-weed between them and the trunk, have long been used 
by various persons in Massachusetts with good success ; and 
the only objections to them are the cost of the troughs, the 
difficulty of fixing and keeping them in their places, and the 
injury suffered by the trees when the oil is washed or blown 
out and falls upon the bark. Mr. Jonathan Dennis, Jr., of 
Portsmouth, Rhode Island, has obtained a patent for a circular 
leaden trough to contain oil, offering some advantages over 
those that have heretofore been used, although it does not en- 
tirely prevent the escape of the oil, and the nails, with which 
it is secured, are found to be injurious to the trees. These 
troughs ought not to be nailed to the trees, but should be sup- 
ported by a few wooden wedges driven between them and the 
trunks. A stuffing of cloth, cotton, or tow, should never be 
used ; sea-weed and fine hay, which will not absorb the oil, 
are much better. Before the troughs are fastened and filled, 
the body of the tree should be well coated with clay paint or 
whitewash, to absorb the oil that may fall upon it. Care 
should be taken to renew the oil as often as it escapes or be- 
comes filled with the insects. These troughs will be found 
more economical and less troublesome than the application of 
tar, and may safely be recommended and employed, if proper 
attention is given to the precautions above named. Some 
persons fasten similar troughs, to contain oil, around the outer 
sides of an open box enclosing the base of the tree, and a pro- 



LEPIDOPTERA. 365 

jecting ledge is nailed on the edge of the box to shed the rain; 
by this contrivance, all danger of hurting the tree with the oil 
is entirely avoided. In the " Manchester Guardian," an Eng- 
lish newspaper, of the fourth of November, 1840, is the follow- 
ing article on the use of melted Indian rubber to prevent 
insects from climbing up trees. " At a late meeting of the 
Entomological Society, [of London ?] Mr. J. H. Fennell com- 
municated the following successful mode of preventing insects 
ascending the trunks of fruit-trees. Let a piece of Indian 
rubber be burnt over a gallipot, into which it will gradually 
drop in the condition of a viscid juice, which state, it appears, 
it will always retain ; for Mr. Fennell has, at the present time, 
some which has been melted for upwards of a year, and has 
been exposed to all weathers without undergoing the slightest 
change. Having melted the Indian rubber, let a piece of cord 
or worsted be smeared with it, and then tied several times 
round the trunk. The melted substance is so very sticky, that 
the insects will be prevented, and generally captured, in their 
attempts to pass over it. About three pennyworth of Indian 
rubber is sufficient for the protection of twenty ordinary sized 
fruit-trees." Applied in this way it would not be sufficient to 
keep the canker-worm moths from getting up the trees; for 
the first comers would soon bridge over the cord with their 
bodies, and thus aftbrd a passage to their followers. To in- 
sure success, it should be melted in larger quantities, and 
daubed with a brush upon strips of cloth or paper, fastened 
round the trunks of the trees. Worn out Indian rubber shoes, 
which are worth little or nothing for any other purpose, can 
be put to this use. This plan has been tried by a few persons 
in the vicinity of Boston, some of whom speak favorably of it. 
It has been suggested that the melted rubber might be applied 
immediately to the bark without injuring the trees. A little 
conical mound of sand surrounding the base of the tree is 
found to be impassable to the moths, so long as the sand re- 
mains dry ; but they easily pass over it when the sand is wet, 
and they come out of the ground in wet, as often as in dry 
weather. 

Some attempts have been made to destroy the canker-worms 



366 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

after they were hatched from the eggs, and were dispersed over 
the leaves of the trees. It is said that some persons have saved 
their trees from these insects by freely dusting air-slacked lime 
over them while the leaves were wet with dew. Showering 
the trees with mixtures that are found useful to destroy other 
insects, has been tried by a few, and, although attended with 
a good deal of trouble and expense, it may be worth our while 
to apply such remedies upon small and choice trees. Mr. 
David Haggerston, of Watertown, Mass., has used, for this 
purpose, a mixture of water and oil-soap (an article to be 
procured from the manufactories where whale oil is purified), 
in the proportion of one pound of the soap to seven gallons of 
water; and he states that this liquor, when thrown on the trees 
with a garden engine, will destroy the canker-worm and many 
other insects, without injuring the foliage or the fruit. This 
application may be found useful in protecting grafts; for if 
canker-worms attack these they will very much injure if not 
entirely destroy them. Jarring or shaking the limbs of the 
trees will disturb the canker-v^orms, and cause many of them 
to spin down, when their threads may be broken off with a 
pole; and if the troughs around the trees are at the same time 
replenished with oil, or the tar is again applied, the insects 
will be caught in their attempts to creep up the trunks. In 
the same way, also, those that are coming down the trunks to 
go into the ground will be caught and killed. If greater pains 
were to be taken to destroy the insects in the caterpillar state, 
their numbers would soon greatly diminish. 

Even after they have left the trees, have gone into the 
ground, and have changed their forms, they are not wholly 
beyond the reach of means for destroying them. One person 
told me that his swine, which he was in the habit of turning 
into his orchard in the' autumn, rooted up and killed great 
numbers of the chrysalids of the canker-worms. Some per- 
sons have recommended digging or ploughing under the trees, 
in the autumn, with the hope of crushing some of the chrysa- 
lids by so doing, and of exposing others to perish with the 
cold of the following winter. If hogs are then allowed to go 
among the trees, and a few grains of corn are scattered on the 



LEPIDOPTERA. 367 

loosened soil, these animals will eat many of the chrysalids as 
well as the corn, and will crush others with their feet. Mr. S. 
P. Fowler* thinks it better to dig around the trees in July, 
while the shells of the insects are soft and tender. He and 
Mr. John Kenrick, of Newton, Mass., advise us to remove the 
soil to the distance of four or five feet from the trunk of the 
trees, and to the depth of six inches, to cart it away and re- 
place it with an equal quantity of compost or rich earth. In 
this way, many of the insects will be removed also; but, unless 
the earth, thus carried away, is thrown into some pond-hole, 
and left covered with water, many of the insects contained in 
it will undergo their transformations and come out alive the 
next year. 

Canker-worms are subject to the attacks of many enemies. 
Great numbers of them are devoured by several kinds of birds, 
which live almost entirely upon them during their season. 
They are also eaten by a very large and splendid ground-beetle 
( Calosoma scrutator), that appears about the time when these 
insects begin to leave the trees. These beetles do not fly, but 
they run about in the grass after the canker-worms, and even 
mount upon the trunks of the trees to seize them as they come 
down. The potter-wasp {Eumenes fraterna), an insect rather 
smaller than the common brown wasp, fills her clay cells with 
canker-worms, often gathering eighteen or twenty of them as 
food for her young.f A four-winged ichneumon-fly also stings 
them, and deposits an egg in every canker-worm thus wounded. 
From the egg is hatched a little maggot, that preys on the 
fatty substance of the canker-worm, and weakens it so much 
that it is unable to go through its future transformations. I 
have seen one of these flies sting several canker-worms in 
succession, and swarms of them may be observed around the 
trees as long as the canker-worms remain. Their services, 
therefore, are doubtless very considerable. Among a large 



* See " Yankee Farmer " of July 18, 1840, ard "New England Farmer" of 
June 2, 1841, for some valuable remarks by Mr. Fowler. 

t See the history of this insect, and a figure of her cells, in the " Boston Culti- 
vator," for July 15, 1848. 



368 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

number of canker-worms, taken promiscuously from various 
trees, I found that nearly one third of the whole were unable 
to finish their transformations, because they had been attacked 
by ititernal enemies of another kind. These were little mag- 
gots, that lived singly w^ithin the bodies of the canker-worms, 
till the latter died from weakness; after which the maggots 
underwent a change, and finally came out of the bodies of 
their victims in the form of small two-winged cuckoo-flies, 
belonging to the genus Tachina. Mr, E. C. llerrick, of New 
Haven, Connecticut, has made the interesting discovery that 
the eggs of the canker-worm moth are pierced by a tiny four- 
winged fly, a species of Plati/g^astcr, which goes from egg to 
egg, and drops in each of them one of her own eggs. Some- 
times every canker-worm egg in a cluster, will be found to 
have been thus punctured and seeded for a future harvest of 
the Platygaster. The young of this Platy^aster is an exceed- 
ingly minute maggot, hatched within the canker-worm egg, 
the shell of which, though only one thirtieth of an inch long, 
serves for its habitation, and the contents for its food, till it is 
fully grown ; after which it becomes a chrysalis within the 
same shell, and in due time comes out a Platygaster fly, like 
its parent. This last transformation Mr. Herrick found to take 
place towards the end of June, from eggs laid in November of 
the year before; and he thinks that the flies continue alive 
through the summer, till the appearance of the canker-worm 
moths in the autumn affords them the opportunity of laying 
their eggs for another brood. As these little parasites prevent 
the hatching of the eggs wherein they are bred, and as they 
seem to be very abundant, they must be of great use in pre- 
venting the increase of the canker-worm. Without doubt 
such wisely appointed means as these were once enough to 
keep within due bounds these noxious insects; but, since our 
forests, their natural food, and our birds, their greatest enemies, 
have disappeared before the woodman's axe and the sports- 
man's gun, we are left to our own ingenuity, perseverance, 
and united efforts, to contrive and carry into effect other means 
for checking their ravages. 

Between the years 1841 and 1847, canker-worms almost 



LEPIDOPTERA. 369 

entirely disappeared in the vicinity of Boston. At the latter 
date, there was a visible increase of them here, and their num- 
bers have rapidly augmented every subsequent year. In a 
few years more, unless checked by natural or artificial means, 
they will probably prove as destructive as at any former time. 
The writer of this work has given repeated warning of these 
facts in the public prints, and has pointed out the remedies to 
be applied.* 

Apple, elm, and lime trees, are sometimes injured a good 
deal by another kind of span-worm, larger than the canker- 
worm, and very different from it in appearance. It is of a 
bright yellow color, with ten crinkled black lines along the top 
of the back; the head is rust-colored; and the belly is paler 
than the rest of the body. When fully grown, it measures 
about one inch and a quarter in length. It often rests with 
the middle of the body curved upwards a little, and sometimes 
even without the support of its fore legs. The leaves of the 
lime seem to be its natural and favorite food, for it may be 
found on this tree every year ; but I have often seen it in con- 
siderable abundance, with common canker-worms, on other 
trees. It is hatched rather later, and does not leave the trees 
quite so soon as the latter. About or soon after the middle of 
June it spins down from the trees, goes into the ground, and 
changes to a chrysalis in a little cell five or six inches below 
the surface; and from this it comes out in the moth state 
towards the end of October or during the month of November. 
More rarely its last transformation is retarded till the spring. 
The females are wingless and grub-like, with slender thread- 
shaped antennae. As soon as they leave the ground they 
creep up the trees, and lay their eggs in little clusters, here 
and there on the branches. The males have large and delicate 
wings, and their antennae have a narrow feathery edging on 
each side. They follow the females, and pak with them on 
the trees. This kind of moth closely resembles the lime-looper 



* See Prairie Farmer, Yol. VIII., p. 172, for June, 1848. Massachusetts 
Ploughman, for June 2-1, 1848, Nov. 23, 1850, and May 17, ISJl. Boston Cul- 
tivator, Nov. 24, 1849. New England Farmer, Vol. II., p. 252, for August, 1850. 

47 



370 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

or umber moth [Hyhernia defoliaria) of Europe; but differs 
from it so much in the larva state, that I have not the slightest 
doubt of its being a distinct species, and accordingly name it 
Hyhernia Tiliaria, the lime-tree winter-moth, from Tilia, the 
scientific name of its favorite tree. The fore wings of the 
male are rusty buff or nankin-yellow, sprinkled with very fine 
brownish dots, and banded with two transverse, wavy, brown 
lines, the band nearest the shoulders being often indistinct; in 
the space between the bands, and near to the thick edge of 
the wing, there is generally a brown dot. The hind wings are 
much paler than the others, and have a small brownish dot in 
the middle. The color of the body is the same as that of the 
fore wings; and the legs are ringed with buff and brown. The 
wings expand one inch and three quarters. The body of the 
female is grayish or yellowish white ; it is sprinkled on the 
sides with black dots, and there are two square black spots on 
the top of each ring, except the last, which has only one spot. 
The front of the head is black ; and the antenna? and the legs 
are ringed with black and white. The tail is tipped with a 
tapering, jointed egg-tube, that can be drawn in and out, like 
the joints of a telescope. Exclusive of this tube, the female 
measures about half an inch in length. The eggs are beautiful 
objects when seen under a microscope. They are of an oval 
shape, and pale yellow color, and are covered with little raised 
lines, like net-work, or like the cells of a honeycomb. 

As these span-worms appear at the same time as canker- 
worms, resemble them in their habits, and often livo on the 
same trees, they can be kept in check by such means as are 
found useful when employed against canker-worms. 

Probably more than one hundred different kinds of Geome- 
ters may be found in Massachusetts alone. Seventy-eight are 
already known to me. Some of these are small, and are not 
otherwise remarkable ; some are distinguished for their greater 
size and beauty in the moth state, or for the singularity of the 
forms and habits of their caterpillars. None of them, how- 
ever, have become so notorious on account of their devastations 
as the species already described. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 371 

4. Delta Moths. {Pyralides.) 

The Pyralides of LinnaBus are nearly akin to the Geome- 
ters. Latreille called them Deltoides, because the form of the 
moths, when their wings are closed, is triangular, like that of 
the Greek letter A. For the same reason I have called them 
Delta-moths. The body, in these moths, is long and slender. 
The fore wings are long and rather narrow, and cover the hind 
wings nearly horizontally when at rest. The feelers are gener- 
ally very long, flattened sidewise, and more or less turned up 
at the end. The tongue in some is of moderate length, in 
others it is very small or invisible. The antennce are long and 
generally simple or bristle-formed in both sexes; in some males, 
however, they are feathered, and in a few others they have a 
singular knot or crook in the middle. The legs are long and 
slender; and the first pair is often fringed with tufts of long 
hairs. Most of these moths fly at night ; a few are on the 
wing in the daytime also. They generally prefer moist and 
shady places, where the long grass and thick foliage shelter 
them from the light and heat of the sun. Some of them fre- 
quent houses. The meal-moth {Pi/ralis farinalis)^ the cater- 
pillar of which may be found in old flour-barrels, is often seen 
on the ceilings of rooms, sitting with its tail curved over its 
back. The fore wings of this pretty moth are light brown, 
crossed by two curved white lines, and with a dark chocolate- 
brown spot on the base and tip of each. The tabby, or grease- 
moth [Aglossa ping'idnalis), the larva of which lives in greasy 
animal substances, is also to be found in houses, and is known 
by its narrow glossy wings, of a smoky gray color, crossed by 
wavy lighter colored bands; its tongue is not visible. The 
motions of some of the day-flying kinds {Simacthis) are very 
curious. When they alight upon a leaf, they whirl round 
sidewise, in a circular direction, with the head in the centre of 
the circle, and then return in the contrary direction, and repeat 
these gyrations several times in succession. 

The larvae or caterpillars of the Delta-moths are long and 
slender, tapering at each end, and naked, or with only a few 
short hairs, which are rarely visible to the naked eye. Some 



372 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

of them have sixteen legs, others have only fourteen. The 
latter creep very much like the span-worms, but are more 
active and quick in their motions. Most of them live exposed 
upon or under the leaves of plants, and, when they come to 
their full growth, they enclose themselves in cocoons formed 
of folded leaves thinly lined with silk, in which they undergo 
their transformations. Some kinds [Hydrocampa and Petro- 
phila) live in the water upon aquatic plants, and secure them- 
selves in cylindrical leafy cases, fitted to cover the whole of 
the body except the head and six fore legs, and made air-tight. 
These cases prevent the water from getting into the lateral 
breathing-holes of the caterpillars, and contain a sufficient 
quantity of air for them to breathe; and, with them, they can 
easily move about under the surface, upon the plants which 
serve them for food. Some of the aquatic kinds do not make 
these air-tight cases, for they do not need them, as they breathe 
through fringed gills, placed along the sides of their bodies. 
Thus we see that even aquatic plants are inhabited by pecu- 
liar tribes of insects, which keep in check their redundant 
vegetation, and which are fitted, by extraordinary and curious 
contrivances, for the element wherein they are appointed to 
live. These aquatic insects stand on the limits of the order, 
and connect the Lcpidoptera with the Neuroptera., by means 
of the May-flies [Phryganeadcc) belonging to the latter order. 
Those caterpillars of the Pyralides that have only fourteen 
legs, may be called Herminians (Herminiad^), after the prin- 
cipal genus in the group. The hop-vine is often infested by 
great numbers of these caterpillars. They eat large holes in 
the leaves, and thereby sometimes greatly injure the plant. 
Caterpillars of this kind have also been observed on the hop 
in Europe, from whence ours may have been introduced; but 
until specimens from Europe and this country are compared 
together, in all their states, it will be well to consider the latter 
as distinct. Our hop-vine caterpillars are false-loopers, bending 
up the back a little when they creep, because the first pair of 
proplegs, found in other caterpillars, is wanting in them. The 
rings of their bodies are rather prominent, the cross-lines 
between them being deep. They are of a green color, with 



LEPIDOPTERA. 373 

two longitudinal white lines along the back, a dark gre(>n line 
in the middle between them, and an indistinct whitish line on 
each side of the body. The head is green, and very regularly 
spotted with minute black dots, from each of which arises a 
very short hair. There are similar dots and hairs arranged in 
two transverse rows on each of the rings. "When disturbed 
they bend their bodies suddenly and with a jerk, first on one 
side and then on the other, each time leaping to a considerable 
distance, so that it is difficult to catch or hold them. They 
make no webs on the leaves, and do not suspend themselves 
by silken threads like the Geometers ; but they are very ac- 
tive, creep fast, and soon get upon the leaves again after leap- 
ing off. When fully grown they are about eight tenths of an 
inch long. They then form a thin, imperfect, silky cocoon 
within a folded leaf, or in some crevice or sheltered spot, and 
are changed to brownish chrysalids, which present nothing 
remarkable in their appearance. Three weeks afterwards the 
moths come forth from these cocoons. There are two broods 
of these insects in the course of the summer. The caterpillars 
of the first brood appear in May and June, and are transformed 
to moths towards the end of June, and during the early part 
of July. Those of the second brood appear in July and Au- 
gust, and are changed to moths in September. The insects 
of the second brood are much the most numerous usually, and 
do much more damage to the hop-vine than the others. The 
moth has been named Hypena Hamuli, the hop-vine Hypena, 
upon the supposition that it is distinct from the H/jpeiia ros- 
tralis, or hop-vine snout-moth of Europe. These moths are 
readily known by their long, wide, and flattened feelers, which 
are held close together, and project horizontally from the fore 
part of the head, in the manner of a snout. The antennae in 
both sexes are naked, and bristle-formed. The wings vary in 
color, being sometimes dusky or blackish brown, and some- 
times of a much lighter rusty brown color. The fore wings 
are marbled with gray beyond the middle, and have a distinct 
oblique gray spot on the tip ; they are crossed by two wavy 
blackish lines, one near the middle, and the other near the 
outer hind margin ; these lines are formed by little elevated 



374 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

black tufts, and there are also two similar tufts on the middle 
of the wing. The hind wings are dusky brown or light brown, 
with a paler fringe, and are without bands or spots. The 
wings expand about one inch and a quarter. 

The means for destroying the hop-vine caterpillars are 
showering or syringing the plants with strong soapsuds, or 
with a solution of oil-soap in water, in the proportion of two 
pounds of the soap to fourteen or fifteen gallons of water. 

The foregoing is the only kind of Delta-moth that appears 
to be particularly injurious to any of our useful or cultivated 
plants. 

5. Leaf-rollers. ( Tortrices.) 

There are many caterpillars that curl up the edges of the 
leaves of plants into little cylindrical rolls, open at each end, 
and fastened together with bands or threads of silk. These 
rolls serve at once for the habitations and the food of the 
insects; and to the latter Linnaeus gave the name of Tor- 
trices, derived from a Latin word signifying to curl or twist. 
All the caterpillars now put in this tribe are not leaf-rollers. 
Some of them live in leaf and flower buds, and fasten the 
leaves together so that the bud cannot open, while they devour 
the tender substance within. Some live in a kind of tent 
formed of several leaves, drawn together and secured with 
silken threads. Others are found in the tender shoots or under 
the bark of plants. A few bore into young fruits, which they 
cause to ripen and fall prematurely. A still smaller number 
of kinds live on the leaves of plants, exposed to view, and 
without any kind of covering over them. Most of these 
insects, when disturbed, let themselves down by threads, like 
the Geometers. Very few of them make cocoons ; the greater 
number transforming within the rolled leaves, or in the other 
situations wherein they usually dwell. They are furnished 
with sixteen legs, and their bodies are nearly or quite naked. 
Many of their chrysalids have two rows of minute prickles 
across each of the rings of the hind body, by the help of which 
they push themselves half way out of their habitations, when 
the included moths are about to come forth. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 375 

The moths of this tribe are mostly of small size, very few of 
them expanding more than one inch. They carry their wings 
like a steep roof over their bodies when they are at rest. Their 
fore wings are very much curved, and are very broad at the 
shoulders, and hence these insects are called Platyomides, that 
is, broad shoulders, by the French naturalists. These wings 
are generally very prettily banded and spotted, and are some- 
times ornamented with brilliant metallic spots. The hind 
wings are plain, and of a uniform dusky or grayish color, and 
the inner edge is folded like a fan against the side of the body. 
Their antenna are naked or threadlike. Their feelers, two in 
number, are broad, of moderate length, or project like a short 
beak in front of the head, and are never curved upwards. The 
spiral tongue is mostly short and sometimes invisible. The 
body is rather short and thick, and the legs are also mvich 
shorter in proportion than in the Delta-moths. These little 
moths fly only in the evening and night, and remain at rest 
during the day upon or near the plants inhabited by their 
caterpillars. They are most abundant in midsummer, but 
certain species appear in the spring or autumn. The habits 
of the Tortrices, in all their states, are not yet known well 
enough to enable us to group the insects together under family 
names. 

The caterpillars of some of our largest species are found on 
the ends of the branches of various trees and bushes, in nests, 
made of the young leaves drawn together in bunches, and 
fastened with threads. In the middle of these nests the cater- 
pillars live, either singly, or in companies of several individuals 
together. Nests of this kind, containing a large number of 
caterpillars, may often be seen on oak-trees in the summer. 
The chrysalids force their way partly out of the nests by the 
help of the transverse rows of prickles on their backs, when the 
moths are about to make their escape. The moths resemble 
in form and general appearance those of another species, the 
caterpillars of which live singly in much smaller nests, on 
apple-trees and rose-bushes. Early in May, or soon after the 
buds of the apple-tree begin to open, these little caterpillars 
begin their labors. They curl up and fasten together the small 



376 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO YEGETATION. 

and tender leaves that supply them both with shelter and food; 
and in this way, they often do considerable damage to the 
trees. These caterpillars are sometimes of a pale green color, 
with the head and the top of the first ring brownish; and 
sometimes the whole body is brownish or dull flesh-red; they 
are rough to the touch with minute warts, each of which pro- 
duces a very short hair, invisible to the naked eye. They come 
to their full size towards the middle of June, and then measure 
nearly or quite half an inch in length. After this, they line 
the inner surface of the curled leaves, composing their nests, 
with a web of silk, and are then changed to chrysalids of a 
dark brown color. Towards the end of June, or early in July, 
the chrysalis pushes itself half way out of its nest, and bursts 
open at the upper end, so that the moth may come out. The 
moth closely resembles the Lozotccnia* oporana of Europe, but 
ditfers from it in having the fore wings broader at the base, 
more curved on the front edge, and more hooked at the tip, 
and its markings are also somewhat different. It may be 
called Loxotccnia Rosaceana, the oblique banded moth of the 
Rose tribe, for to the latter the apple-tree belongs as well as 
the rose. The fore wings of this moth are very much arched 
on their outer edge, and curve in the contrary direction at the 
tip, like a little hook or short tail. They are of a light cinna- 
mon-brown color, crossed with little wavy darker brown lines, 
and with three broad oblique dark brown bands, whereof one 
covers the base of the wing, and is oftentimes indistinct or 
wanting, the second crosses the middle of the wing, and the 
third, which is broad on the front edge and narrow behind, is 
near the outer hind margin of the wing. The hind wings are 
ochre-yellow, with the folded part next to the body blackish. 
It expands one inch or a little more. 

Little caterpillars of another species are sometimes found 
in May and June in the opening buds and among the tender 

* This word was probably an error of the press in the " Catalogue " of Mr. 
Stephens, by whom the genus was proposed. It has, however, been copied in 
several other works by other authors, without correction or comment. Loxo- 
tmnia, meaning oblique band, seems to be the right name for the moths of this 
genus, -which are distinguished by the oblique bands on their fore wings. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 377 

leaves of the apple-tree. They live singly in the buds, the 
leaves of which they fasten together and then devour. These 
caterpillars are of a pale and dull brownish color, warty and 
slightly downy like the foregoing i^ind, with the head and the 
top of the first ring dark shining brown ; and a dark brown 
spot appears through the skin on the top of the eighth ring. 
They generally come to their growth by the middle of June, 
and are changed to shining brown chrysalids within the curled 
leaves, in a little web of silk, wherewith their retreats are lined. 
The chrysalis has only one row of prickles across the rings of the 
back. The moths come out early in July. They very closely 
resemble the European Penthina comitana* and perhaps may 
be merely a variety of it. The head and thorax are dark ash- 
colored. The fore wings are of the same color at each end, 
and grayish white in the middle, mottled with dark gray; 
there are two small eye-like spots on each of them ; one near 
the tip, consisting of four little black marks, placed close 
together in a row, on a light brown ground, the inner marks 
being longer than the others; the second eye-spot is near the 
inner hind angle, and is formed by three minute black spots, 
arranged in a triangle, in the middle of which there is some- 
times a black dot. The hind wings are dusky brown. This 
moth expands from one half to six tenths of an inch. It may 
be called Penthina ncniana, the eye-spotted Penthina. My 
attention Avas called to the depredations of this bud-moth, and 
of the preceding species, by John Owen, Esq., of Cambridge, 
by whom the moths were raised from the caterpillars, and 
presented to me. It is difficult at first to conceive how such 
insignificant creatures can occasion so much mischief as they 
are found to do. This seems to arise from the number of the 
insects, and their mode of attack, whereby the opening foliage 
is checked in its growth or nipped in the bud. To pull off 
and crush the withered clusters of leaves containing the cater- 
pillars or the chrysalids, is the only remedy that occurs to me. 
It were to be wished that some better way of putting a stop 



* Spilonota comitana, Stephens; Pcccilochroma comitana, Cnviis ; Penthina his- 
cana, Duponchel. 

48 



378 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

to the ravages of the leaf-rollers and bud-moths, that infest 
many of om- fruit-trees and flowering shrubs, could be dis- 
covered. 

Apricot, peach, and plum trees, when trained against walls 
in the open air, are said to suffer very much sometimes from 
the attacks of insects whose habits resemble those of the eye- 
spotted Penthina. But, as I have not yet seen them in the 
moth state, I cannot say whether they are of the same species 
as the bud-moth above named. Perhaps they are identical 
with the apricot-bud caterpillars [Ditula angustiorana) of Eu- 
rope, the depredations of which have been described by Mr. 
Westwood in the fourteenth volume of the " Gardener's Mag- 
azine." Besides picking off the curled and confined clusters 
of leaves, when practicable, I would recommend thoroughly 
drenching the trees with Mr. Haggerston's remedy, a pound of 
oil-soap in from seven to ten gallons of water, in the hope that 
some of the mixture might penetrate the injured buds and 
leaves, and destroy the caterpillars concealed therein. A mix- 
ture of one gallon of the liquor expressed by tobacconists from 
tobacco, with five gallons of water, has been used to the same 
intent. 

Roses are infested with several kinds of caterpillars belong- 
ing to this tribe. Mr. Westwood has described one of them, 
and mentions others that are found in Europe, in the thir- 
teenth volume of the " Gardener's Magazine." Similar species 
are not vmcommon in this country. Some of these spoilers 
fasten upon the leaves, and roll them up, or stick them together, 
to serve them for food and shelter; while others lurk unseen 
in the flower-buds, and canker them to the heart, before they 
can spread their lovely petals to the sun, and breathe out their 
fragrance to the air. A particular description of each of these 
insects would occupy too much space here ; and I can only 
add that the worm in the bud is to be destroyed only by hand. 

Pine and fir trees are also injured by some of the To?irices, 
that pierce the tender shoots and terminal buds. The seat of 
their depredations becomes known by the oozing of the resin 
and by the withering of the bud or shoot. The latter com- 
monly dies in consequence of the injury, the upward growth 



LEPIDOPTERA. 379 

is checked, and the stem only puts forth side shoots the fol- 
lowing year. Some one of these side shoots, in time, takes 
the place of the leading shoot, and thus gives to the trunk an 
irregular and crooked appearance, and renders it unfit for tim- 
ber. The history of several European Tortrices or turpentine- 
moths, that thus injure pines and firs, is given in Kollar's 
" Treatise," wherein we are advised to search for the lumps of 
turpentine in the autumn, and destroy the caterpillars under 
them, or to cut off the injured shoots and burn them with their 
inhabitants. This advice it may be proper for us to follow, 
although it is not yet certain that our turpentine-moths are 
actually the same as those of Europe. 

Among the insects, that have been brought to America with 
other productions of Europe, may be mentioned the apple- 
worm, as it is here called, which has become naturalized 
wherever the apple-tree has been introduced. This mischiev- 
ous creature has sometimes been mistaken for the plum- 
weevil [R]njnch(envs Conotrachehis Nenuphar), described in an- 
other part* of this treatise ; but it may be easily distinguished 
therefrom by its shape, its habits, and its transformations. 
Although the plum-weevil prefers stone fruit, it is sometimes 
found in apples also ; on the other hand, the apple-worm has 
never been found here in plums. It is not a grub, but a true 
caterpillar, belonging to the Tortrix tribe, and in due time, is 
changed to a moth, called Carpocapsa Ponwnella,^ the codling- 
moth, or fruit-moth of the apple. An anonymous writer, in 
the " Entomological Magazine" $ of London, has well re- 
marked that this moth "is the most beautiful of the beautiful 
tribe to which it belongs; yet, from its habits not being known, 
it is seldom seen in the moth state ; and the apple-grower 
knows no more than the man in the moon to what cause he 



* Page 66. 

t Tinea Pomonella, L. ; Pyralis Pomana, F. If the modern name of the genus 
be correct, it -was probably formed from two Greek words signifying to devour 
fruit. Perhaps the name should have been Carpocampa, that is, in English, 
fruit-caterpillar. 

X Vol. I., page 144. 



380 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

is indebted for his basketfuls of worm-eaten windfalls in the 
stillest weather." 

The apple-worm has been long known in Europe, and its 
history has been written by Rosel, Reaumm-, KoUar, West- 
wood,* and other Em-opean natm'alists. A good account of 
it, and of its transformations, by Joseph Tufts, Esq., of 
Charlestown, Massachusetts, was published in the year 1819, 
in the fifth volume of " The Massachusetts Agricultural Re- 
pository and Journal ;" and Mr. Joseph Burrelle, of Quincy, 
Massachusetts, has also made some remarks on the same 
insect, in the eighteenth volume of " The New England 
Farmer." f At various times, between the middle of June 
and the first of July, the apple-worm moths may be found. 
They are sometimes seen in houses in the evening, trying to 
get through the windows into the open air, having been 
brought in with fruit while they were in the caterpillar state. 
Their fore wings, when seen at a distance, have somewhat the 
appearance of brown watered silk ; when closely examined 
they will be found to be crossed by numerous gray and brown 
lines, scalloped like the plumage of a bird; and near the hind 
angle there is a large, oval, dark brown spot, the edges of 
which are of a bright copper color. The head and thorax are 
brown mingled with gray; and the hind wings and abdomen 
are light yellowish brown, with the lustre of satin. Its wings 
expand three quarters of an inch. This insect is readily dis- 
tinguished from other moths by the large, oval, brown spot, 
edged with copper color, on the hinder margin of each of the 
fore wings. During the latter part of June and the month of 
July, these fruit-moths fly about apple-trees every evening, and 
lay their eggs on the young fruit. They do not puncture 
the apples, but they drop their eggs, one by one, in the eye or 
hollow at the blossom-end of the fruit, where the skin is most 
tender. They seem also to seek for early fruit rather than for 
the late kinds, which we find are not so apt to be wormy as 



* " Gardener's Magazine," Vol. XIV., p. 234. 

t Page 398. See also some remarks on this insect in my " Discourse before 
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1832," page 42. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 381 

the thin-skinned summer apples. The eggs begin to hatch in 
a few days after they are laid, and the little apple-worms or 
caterpillars produced from them immediately burrow into the 
apples, making their way gradually from the eye towards the 
core. Commonly only one worm will be found in the same 
apple ; and it is so small at first, that its presence can only be 
detected by the brownish powder it throws out in eating its 
way through the eye. The body of the young insect is of a 
whitish color ; its head is heart-shaped and black ; the top of 
the first ring or collar and of the last ring is also black ; and 
there are eight little blackish dots or warts, arranged in pairs, 
on each of the other rings. As it grows older its body be- 
comes flesh-colored ; its head, the collar, and the top of the 
last ring, turn brown, and the dots are no longer to be seen. 
In the course of three weeks, or a little more, it comes to its 
full size, and meanwhile has burrowed to the core and through 
the apple in various directions. To get rid of the refuse frag- 
ments of its food, it gnaws a round hole through the side of 
the apple, and thrusts them out of the opening. Through this 
hole also the insect makes its escape after the apple falls to 
the ground ; and the falling of the fruit is well known to be 
hastened by the injury it has received within, which generally 
causes it to ripen before its time. 

Soon after the half-grown apples drop, and sometimes while 
they are still hanging, the worms leave them and creep into 
chinks in the bark of the trees or into other sheltered places, 
which they hollow out with their teeth to suit their shape. 
Here each one spins for itself a cocoon or silken case, as thin, 
delicate, and white as tissue paper. Some of the apple-worms, 
probably the earliest, are said by Kollar to change to chrysa- 
lids immediately after their cocoons are made, and in a few 
days more turn to moths, come out, and lay their eggs for a 
second generation of the worms ; and hence much fruit will 
be found to be worm-eaten in the autumn. Most of the in- 
sects, however, remain in their cocoons through the winter, 
and are not changed to moths till the following summer. The 
chrysalis is of a bright mahogany-brown color, and has, as 
usual, across each of the rings of its hind body, two rows of 



382 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

prickles, by the help of which it forces its way through the 
cocoon before the moth comes forth. 

As the apple-worms instinctively leave the fruit soon after 
it falls from the trees, it will be proper to gather up all wind- 
fallen apples daily, and make such immediate use of them as 
will be sure to kill the insects, before they have time to escape. 
Mr. Burrelle says that if any old cloth is wound around or 
hung in the crotches of the trees, the apple-worms will conceal 
themselves therein ; and by this means thousands of them may 
be obtained and destroyed, from the time when they first be- 
gin to leave the apples, until the fruit is gathered. By care- 
fully scraping off the loose and rugged bark of the trees, in the 
spring, many chrysalids will be destroyed; and it has been 
said that the moths, when they are about laying their eggs, 
may be smothered or driven away, by the smoke of weeds 
burned under the trees. The worms, often found in summer 
pears, appear to be the same as those that affect apples, and 
are to be kept in check by the same means. Cranberries are 
likewise affected by worms, altogether similar to apple-worms. 

6. TlNE^. 

The word moth was formerly used in a much more restricted 
sense than it now is. It was originally given to the cater- 
pillars of certain insects, called Tine.e by Linnaeus, and well- 
known as the destroyers of clothing and of other household 
stuffs. In this sense we find it used in our version of the 
Scriptures, and in the works of old English writers. It occurs, 
with very little change, in other languages also, and seems to 
have been derived from a word signifying to gnaw or to eat. 
Nearly all the moth-worms, or caterpillars belonging to the 
tribe of Tineoe, gnaw holes or winding paths in the substances 
wherein they live. Some of the fragments they devour, and 
the rest they fasten together, with a few silken threads, so as 
to shelter or clothe their tender bodies. With these materials 
some of them make cylindrical burrows, through which they 

* From the Gothic maten, to gnaw, and from matjan, to eat, we have the 
Anglo-Saxon word tnoth, as now used, and matha, a maggot. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 383 

can move freely, and carry on the work of destruction unseen ; 
and others, with the same, shape for themselves various kinds 
of pods or cases, large enough to cover their bodies entirely 
when they are at rest, and so light that they can bear them 
about on their backs, as snails do their shells. Some moth- 
worms are dark colored ; but most of them are of a dirty white 
color, with a brownish head, and a brown spot on the top of 
the first ring. They are either wholly naked, or have only a 
few short hairs thinly scattered over the surface of their bodies. 
They generally have sixteen legs. Some, however, want the 
first pair of proplegs, having only fourteen in all. They un- 
dergo their transformations in the burrows or cases tliat have 
served them for habitations, either with or without the addi- 
tional covering of a cocoon spun within their places of abode. 
The chrysalids are of a brown color, and are rather more slen- 
der than those of other moths. In the winged state they vary 
greatly both in form and color. They all agree, however, in 
having the wings long and narrow, and folded or wrapped 
around the body, more or less closely, when they are at rest. 
Their antennae are bristle-shaped, and very rarely feathered in 
either sex. Some of them have four feelers, others only two ; 
and the spiral tongue is short. Most of these winged moths 
are very small ; indeed, the least of the Lepidoptera belong to 
this tribe. They have been divided by some naturalists into 
two, and by others into three groups, namely, Crambidce, Ypo- 
nameutadce, and Tineadce, the differences between which it is 
not necessary particularly to notice in this place. 

Some moth-worms burrow into leaves, and make winding 
passages in the pulpy substance thereof, under the skin ; some 
bore into the stems of plants ; and a few are found only on 
the surface of leaves, or on roots. Living plants, however, 
form but a small part of the food of the Tineae, most of which 
subsist on other substances ; and, for this reason, they would 
have been passed by without further notice, were it not for the 
depredations of certain species on some of our most valuable 
possessions. Most of these pests are foreign insects, and have 
been introduced into this country from abroad; it will not, 
therefore, be in my power to offer any thing absolutely new 



384 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

about them. Nevertheless, a few remarks on some of the 
most remarkable or destructive of these moths may not be 
wholly useless or unacceptable to those persons for whom this 
treatise was particularly designed. 

The largest insects of this tribe belong to the group called 
Crambid.e, or Crambians, among which the bee-moth or wax- 
moth is to be placed. This pernicious insect was well known 
to the ancients, and we find it mentioned, under the name of 
Tinea, in the works of Virgil and Columella,* old Roman 
writers on husbandry. In the winged state, the male and 
female differs so much in size, color, and in the form of their 
fore wings, that they were supposed, by Linnaeus and by 
some other naturalists, to be different species, and accordingly 
received two different names.f To avoid confusion, it will be 
best to adopt the scientific name given to the bee-moth by 
Fabricius, who called it Galleria cereana, that is, the wax 
Galleria, because, in its caterpillar state, it eats beeswax. 
Doubtless it was first brought to this country, with the com- 
mon hive-bee, from Europe, where it is very abundant, and 
does much mischief in hives. Very few of the Tinea; exceed 
or even equal it in size. In its perfect or adult state it is a 
winged moth or miller, measuring, from the head to the tip of 
the closed wings, from five eighths to three quarters of an inch 
in length, and its wings expand from one inch and one tenth 
to one inch and four tenths. The feelers are two in number; 
and the tongue is very short, and hardly visible. The fore 
wings shut together flatly on the top of the back, slope steeply 
downwards at the sides, and are turned up at the end, some- 
what like the tail of a fowl. This resemblance probably sug- 
gested the name of the genus, Galleria, which seems to have 
been derived from the Latin word for a fowl. The male is of 
a dusty gray color; his fore wings are more or less glossed and 
streaked with purple-brown on the outer edge, they have a 
few dark brown spots near the inner margin, and they are 
scalloped or notched inwardly at the end ; his hind wings are 



* Virgil. Georgic IV., line 24G. Columella. Husbandry, Book IX., chap. 14. 
t Torlrix cereana, the male ; Tinea tnellonclla, the female. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 385 

light yellowish gray, with whitish fringes. The female is 
much larger than the male, and much darker colored ; her fore 
wings are proportionally longer, not so deeply notched on the 
outer hind margin, and not so much turned up at the end ; 
they are more tinged with purple-brown, sprinkled with darker 
spots; and the hind wings are dirty or grayish white. There 
are two broods of these insects in the course of a year. Some 
winged moths of the first brood begin to appear towards the 
end of April, or early in May ; those of the second brood are 
most abundant in August; but between these periods, and 
even later, others come to perfection, and consequently some 
of them may be found during the greater part of the summer. 
By day they remain quiet on the sides or in the crevices of the 
bee-house; but, if disturbed at this time, they open their wings 
a little, and spring or glide swiftly away, so that it is very 
difficult to seize or to hold them. In the evening they take 
wing, when the bees are at rest, and hover around the hive, 
till, having found the door, they go in and lay their eggs. 
Those that are prevented by the crowd, or by any other cause, 
from getting within the hive, lay their eggs on the outside, or 
on the stand, and the little worm-like caterpillars hatched 
therefrom easily creep into the hive through the cracks, or 
gnaw a passage for themselves under the edges of it. These 
caterpillars, at first, are not thicker than a thread. They have 
sixteen legs. Their bodies are soft and tender, and of a yel- 
lowish white color, sprinkled with a few little brownish dots, 
from each of which proceeds a short hair; their heads are 
brown and shelly, and there are two brown spots on the top of 
the first ring. Weak as they are, and unprovided with any 
natural means of defence, destined, too, to dwell in the midst 
of the populous hive, surrounded by watchful and well-armed 
enemies, at whose expense they live, they are taught how to 
shield themselves against the vengeance of the bees, and pass 
safely and unseen in every direction through the waxen cells, 
which they break down and destroy. Beeswax is their only 
food, and they prefer the old to the new comb, and are always 
found most numerous in the upper part of the hive, where the 
oldest honeycomb is lodged. It is not a little wonderful, that 
49 



386 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

these insects should be able to get any nourishment from wax, 
a substance which other animals cannot digest at all; but they 
are created with an appetite for it, and with such extraordinary 
powers of digestion, that they thrive well upon this kind of 
food. As soon as they are hatched they begin to spin ; and 
each one makes for itself a tough silken tube, wherein it can 
easily turn around and move backwards or fonvards at pleasure. 
During the day they remain concealed in their silken tubes; 
but at night, when the bees cannot see them, they come partly 
out, and devour the wax within their reach. As they increase 
in size, they lengthen and enlarge their dwellings, and cover 
them on the outside with a coating of grains of wax mixed 
with their own castings, which resemble gunpowder. Pro- 
tected by this coating from the stings of the bees, they work 
their way through the combs, gnaw them to pieces, and fill 
the hive with their filthy webs; till at last the discouraged 
bees, whose diligence and skill are of no more use to them in 
contending with their unseen foes, than their superior size and 
powerful weapons, are compelled to abandon their perishing 
brood and their wasted stores, and leave the desolated hive 
to the sole possession of the miserable spoilers. These cater- 
pillars grow to the length of an inch or a little more, and come 
to their full size in about three weeks. They then spin their 
cocoons, which are strong silken pods, of an oblong oval shape, 
and about one inch in length, and are often clustered together 
in great numbers in the top of the hive. Some time after- 
wards, the insects in these cocoons change to chrysalids of a 
light brown color, rough on the back, and with an elevated 
dark brown line upon it from one end to the other. When this 
transformation happens in the autumn, the insects remain 
without further change till the spring, and then burst open 
their cocoons, and come forth with wings. Those which 
become chrysalids in the early part of summer are transformed 
to winged moths fourteen days afterwards, and immediately 
pair, lay their eggs, and die. 

Bees suffer most from the depredations of these insects in 
hot and dry summers. Strong and healthy swarms, provided 
with a constant supply of food near home, more often escape 



LEPIDOPTERA. 387 

than small and weak ones. When the moth-worms have 
established themselves in a hive, their presence is made known 
to us by the little fragments of wax and the black grains scat- 
tered by them over the floor. Means should then be taken, 
without delay, to dislodge the depredators and invigorate the 
swarm. These are so fully described in Dr. Thacher's " Trea- 
tise on the Management of Bees," and in other works on the 
same subject, that I shall limit myself to a few remarks, and 
refer the reader for further particulars to these w^orks. Kollar 
states that there is but one sure method of clearing bee-hives of 
the moth, and this is to look for and destroy the caterpillars or 
moth-worms and the chrysalids; and he advises that the hives 
should be examined, for this purpose, once a week, and that 
all the webs and cocoons, with the insects in them, should be 
taken out and destroyed. At all events, the examination 
ought to be made every year, early in September, when the 
cocoons will be found in greater numbers than at any other 
time, and should be carefully removed and burned. The 
winged moths are very fond of sweets; and if shallow vessels, 
containing a mLxture of honey or sugar, with vinegar and 
water, are placed near the bee-house in the evening, the moths 
will get into them and be drowned. In this way great num- 
bers may be caught every night. Several kinds of hives and 
bee-houses have been contrived and recommended, for the 
purpose of keeping out the bee-moth; but it does not appear 
that any of them entirely supersede the necessity for the 
measures above recommended. 

The various kinds of destructive moths, found in houses, 
stores, barns, granaries, and mills, are mostly very small in- 
sects; the largest of them, when arrived at maturity, expand- 
ing their wings only about eight tenths of an inch. The 
ravages of some of these little creatures are too well known 
to need a particular description. Among them may be men- 
tioned the clothes-moth ( Tinea vestianella), the tapestry or 
carpet-moth {T. tapetzella), the fur-moth {T. pellionella), the 
hair-moth ( T. Crinella), and the grain-moth {T. granella), with 
some others belonging to a group, which may be called 
Tineans (Tinead.e) ; also the pack-moth [Anacampsis sarci- 



388 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

tella), which is very destructive to wool and fabrics made of 
this material, and the Angoumois grain-moth [Butalis cerea- 
lella), both of which are to be included among the Ypono- 
meutians. In the cabinet of the Boston Society of Natural 
History the cases, containing the large and beautiful collection 
of shells, were formerly lined with fine white flannel. In this 
some moths soon established themselves, multiplied very fast, 
and, in the course of a few years, did so much damage that it 
became necessary entirely to remove the moth-eaten linings. 
In their winged state these moths were of a light buff color, 
with the lustre of satin, and had a thick orange-colored tuft on 
the forehead; the wings were deeply fringed, and the first pair 
were lance-shaped, and expanded rather more than half an 
inch. This species agrees very well with the description 
given, by the old naturalists, of the Tinea fiavifrontella* or 
the orange-fronted Tinea, and with Wood's figure of Tinea 
destructor, the destroyer. Should it prove to be different from 
these, it may be named the satin-buff moth. Objects of 
natural history are very apt to be injured by another moth, 
closely resembling the foregoing, and differing from it chiefly in 
being somewhat smaller, and in having the hind wings tinged 
with gray. Chocolate, as Reaumur has remarked, is devoured 
by another Tinea, whose little silken cases are often seen be- 
tween the cakes, and I have also found them in chocolate put 
up in tin cases. Other articles of food are also devoured by 
some of these Tineae, and even our books are not spared by 
them. 

The Tineans, in the winged state, have four short and slen- 
der feelers, a thick tuft on the forehead, and very narrow wings, 
which are deeply fringed. They lay their eggs mostly in the 
spring, in May and June, and die immediately afterwards. 
The eggs (according to Latreille and Duponchel, from whose 
works the following remarks are chiefly extracted) are hatched 
in fifteen days, and the little whitish caterpillars or moth- 
worms proceeding therefrom immediately begin to gnaw the 
substances within their reach, and cover themselves with the 

* Not the Batia fiavifrontella of the English entomologists. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 389 

fragments, shaping them into little hollow rolls and lining 
them with silk. They pass the summer within these rolls, 
some carrying them about on their backs as they move along, 
and others fastening them to the substance they are eating ; 
and they enlarge them from time to time by adding portions 
to the two open extremities, and by gores set into the sides, 
which they slit open for this purpose. Concealed within their 
movable cases, or in their lint-covered burrows, they carry on 
the work of destruction through the summer ; but in the au- 
tumn they leave off eating, make fast their habitations, and 
remain at rest and seemingly torpid through the winter. 
Early in the spring they change to chrysalids within their 
cases, and in about twenty days afterwards are transformed 
to winged moths, and come forth, and fly about in the even- 
ing, till they have paired and are ready to lay their eggs. 
They then contrive to slip through cracks into dark closets, 
chests, and drawers, under the edges of carpets, in the folds of 
curtains and of garments hanging up, and into various other 
places, where they immediately lay the foundation for a new 
colony of destructive moth-worms. 

Early in June the prudent housekeeper will take care to 
beat up their quarters and put them to flight, or to disturb 
them so as to defeat their designs and destroy their eggs and 
young. With this view wardrobes, closets, drawers, and 
chests will be laid open, and emptied of their contents, and all 
woollen garments, and bedding, furs, feathers, carpets, cur- 
tains, and the like, will be removed and exposed to the air, 
and to the heat of the sun, for several hours together, and will 
not be put back in their places without a thorough brushing, 
beating, or shaking. By these means, the moths and their 
eggs will be dislodged and destroyed. In old houses, that are 
much infested by moths, the cracks in the floors, in the wain- 
scot, around the walls and shelves of closets, and even in the 
furniture used for holding clothes, should be brushed over with 
spirits of turpentine. Powdered black pepper, strewed under 
the edges of carpets, is said to repel moths. Sheets of paper 
sprinkled with spirits of turpentine, camphor in coarse powder, 
leaves of tobacco, or shavings of Russia leather, should be 



390 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

placed among the clothes, when they are laid aside for the 
summer. Furs, plumes, and other small articles, not in con- 
stant use, are best preserved by being put, with a few tobacco 
leaves, or bits of camphor, into bags made of thick brown 
paper, and closely sewed or pasted up at the end. Chests of 
camphor-wood, red cedar, or of Spanish cedar, are found to 
be the best for keeping all articles from moths and other ver- 
min. The cloth linings of carriages can be secured for ever 
from the attacks of moths by being washed or sponged on 
both sides with a solution of the corrosive sublimate of mer- 
cury in alcohol, made just strong enough not to leave a white 
stain on a black feather. Moths can be killed by fumigating 
the article containing them with tobacco smoke or with sul- 
phur, or by shutting it in a tight vessel and then plunging the 
latter into boiling water, or exposing it to steam, for the space 
of fifteen minutes, or by putting it into an oven heated to 
about one hundred and fifty degrees of Fahrenheit's ther- 
mometer. 

Stored grain is exposed to much injury from the depreda- 
tions of two little moths, in Europe, and is attacked in the 
same way, and apparently by the same insects, in this coun- 
try. Not having had sufficient opportunity to examine these 
insects myself, I have been obliged to rely upon the accounts 
given by foreign writers, for most of the following particulars 
respecting their history. 

The European grain-moth (Tinea granella), in its perfected 
state, is a winged insect, between three and four tenths of an 
inch long from the head to the tip of its wings, and expands 
six tenths of an inch. It has a whitish tuft on its forehead ; 
its long and narrow wings cover its back like a sloping roof, 
are a little turned up behind, and are edged with a wide fringe. 
Its fore wings are glossy like satin, and are marbled with white 
or gray, light brown, and dark brown or blackish spots, and 
there is always one dark square spot near the middle of the 
outer edge. Its hind wings are blackish. Some of these 
winged moths appear in May, others in July and August, at 
which times they lay their eggs ; for there are two broods of 
them in the course of the year. The young from the first laid 



, LEPIDOPTERA. 391 

eggs come to their growth and finish their transformations in 
six weelvS or two months; tlie others live through the winter, 
and turn to winged moths in the following spring. The young 
moth-worms do not burrow into the grain, as has been asserted 
by some writers, who seem to have confounded them with the 
Angoumois grain-worms; but, as soon as they are hatched, 
they begin to gnaw the grain and cover themselves with the 
fragments, which they line with a silken web. As they in- 
crease in size they fasten together several grains with their 
webs, so as to make a larger cavity, wherein they live. After 
a while, becoming uneasy in their confined habitations, they 
come out, and wander over the grain, spinning their threads as 
they go, till they have found a suitable place wherein to make 
their cocoons. Thus, wheat, rye, barley, and oats, all of which 
they attack, will be found full of lumps of grains cemented 
together by these corn-worms, as they are sometimes called; 
and when they are very numerous, the whole surface of the 
grain in the bin will be covered with a thick crust of webs and 
of adhering grains. These destructive corn-worms are really 
soft and naked caterpillars, of a cylindrical shape, tapering a 
little at each end, and are provided with sixteen legs, the first 
three pairs of which are conical and jointed, and the others 
fleshy and wart-like. When fully grown, they measure four 
or five tenths of an inch in length, and are of a light ochre or 
buff color, with a reddish head. When about six weeks old, 
they leave the grain, and get into cracks, or around the sides 
of corn-bins, and each one then makes itself a little oval pod 
or cocoon, about as large as a grain of wheat. The insects of 
the first brood, as before said, come out of their cocoons, in 
the winged form, in July and August, and lay their eggs for 
another brood ; the others remain unchanged in their cocoons, 
through the winter, and take the chrysalis form in March or 
April following. Three weeks afterwards, the shining brown 
chrysalis forces itself part way out of the cocoon, by the help 
of some little sharp points on its tail, and bursts open at the 
other end, so as to allow the moth therein confined to come 
forth. 

From various statements, deficient however in exactness, 



392 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

that have appeared in some of our agricultural journals, I am 
led to think that this corn-moth, or an insect much like it in 
its habits, prevails in all parts of the country, and that it has 
generally been mistaken for the grain-weevil. Many years ago 
I remember to have seen oats and shelled corn (maize) affected 
in the way above described ; and Dr. Asa Fitch has favored 
me with a grain-moth, obtained in a flour-mill at East Green- 
wich, New York, which agreed with the descriptions and 
figures of the European Tinea granella. In some remarks 
upon this insect in the Albany " Cultivator," for January, 1847, 
he states that the American insect w^as observed to make its 
cocoon within the webs among the grain, instead of retiring 
therefrom when about to undergo its transformations. The 
habits of the European grain-moth are probably sometimes 
varied ; for, although most writers on its history agree in saying 
that the insect leaves the grain and conceals itself in crevices 
of the granary when preparing to make its cocoon, Olivier* 
expressly states that it undergoes its transformation in its web 
among the grain. 

There is another grain-moth, which, at various times, has 
been fovmd to be more destructive in granaries, in some pro- 
vinces of France, than the preceding kind. It is the Angoumois 
moth, or Anacampsis [Butalis) cerealella, an insect evidently 
belonging to the family of Yponomeutad^e, or Yponomeutians. 
The winged moths of this group have only two visible feelers, 
and these are generally long, slender, and curved over their 
heads. Their narrow wings most often overlap each other, 
and cover their backs horizontally when shut. It is stated in 
the "Introduction to Entomology,"! by the Rev. Mr. Kirby 
and Mr. Spence, that the insect under consideration is not 
yet named. This, however, is a mistake ; for it was named 
Alucita cerealella, by Olivier, | as long ago as the year 1789. 
Olivier's name for it appears also to have been overlooked 



* Encyclopedic Methodique. Insectes. Tome IV., p. 114. 
t Fifth edition, Vol. I., p. 172. 

X '< Encyclopedie Methodique. Hist. Nat. Insectes," Tome IV., p. 121. See 
also Guerin's edition of Tigny'a "Histoire Nat. des Insectes," Tome IX., p. 301. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 393 

by Latreille, who has given it that of (Ecophora g-ranella* 
Moreover, the writers of the "Introduction" have extracted, 
from the works of Reaumur,! an account of the habits of this 
insect, which they call Tinea Hordei and Ypsolophus granellus,X 
without seeming to be aware that it is the same as the An- 
goumois moth. In the first edition of this treatise, I stated 
that "the Angoumois grain-moth probably belongs to the 
modern genus Anacampsis, a word derived from the Greek, 
and signifying recurved, in allusion to the direction of the 
feelers of the moths." To this genus, as understood by most 
English entomologists, it certainly does belong; but Mr. Curtis 
is disposed to place it in his genus Laverna, including certain 
species which he has separated from Anacampsis. The French 
naturalist Duponchel, who has described and figured it in the 
fourth volume of the Supplement to his " Histoire Naturelle 
des Lepidopteres de France," refers this insect to the genus 
Butalis, which name I have thought proper now to adopt. 

For more than a century, this insect has prevailed in the 
western parts of France, and has gradually been extending in 
an easterly and northerly direction. In the year 1736, the 
French naturalist Reaumur published an interesting account 
of it, illustrated by rude figures, in the second volume of his 
instructive " Memoires." He found it to be very injurious to 
stored barley, at Lucon, in the province of La Vendee, and 
ascertained that it destroyed wheat also. In the adjacent 
province of Angoumois, it continued to increase for many 
years, till at length the attention of government was directed 
to its fearful depredations. This was in 1760, when the insect 
was found to swarm in all the wheat-fields and granaries of 
Angoumois and of the neighboring provinces, and the afllicted 
inhabitants were thereby deprived not only of their principal 
staple, wherewith they were wont to pay their annual rents, 
their taxes, and their tithes, but were threatened with famine 
and pestilence from the want of wholesome bread. Two 



* Cuvier's " Regne Animal," 2d edition. 

t " Memoires," Tome II., p. 486. 

X "Introduction to Entomology," Vol. I., p. 174. 

50 



394 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

members of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, the celebrated 
Duhamel du Monceau and Mr. Tillet, were then commissioned 
to visit the province of Angomiiois, and inquire into the nature 
of this destructive insect. The result of their inquiries was 
communicated to the Academy, in whose history and memoirs 
it may be found, and was also subsequently republished in a 
separate volume.* From this work, and from the " Memoires" 
of Reaumur, the following particulars are derived. The An- 
goumois gi'ain-insect, in its perfected state, is a little moth, of 
a pale cinnamon-brown color above, having the lustre of satin, 
with narrow broadly fringed hind wings of an ashen or leaden 
color, two threadlike antenna3, consisting of numerous bearded 
joints, a spiral tongue of moderate length, and two tapering 
feelers, turned over its head. It lays from sixty to ninety eggs, 
placing them in clusters of twenty or more on a single grain. 
From these are hatched, in from four to six days, little worm- 
like caterpillars, not thicker than a hair. These immediately 
disperse, and each one selects for itself a single grain, and 
burrows therein at the most tender part, commonly the place 
whence the plumule comes forth. Remaining there concealed, 
it devours the mealy substance within the hull; and this de- 
struction goes on so secretly, as only to be detected by the 
softness of the grain or the loss of its weight. When fully 
grown this caterpillar is not more than one fifth of an inch 
long. It is of a white color, with a brownish head; and it has 
six small jointed legs, and ten extremely small wart-like prop- 
legs. Having eaten out the heart of the grain, which is just 
enough for all its wants, it spins a silken web or curtain to 
divide the hollow, lengthwise, into two unequal parts, the 
smaller containing the rejected fragments of its food, and the 
larger cavity serving instead of a cocoon, wherein the insect 
undergoes its transformations. Before turning to a chrysalis 
it gnaws a small hole nearly or quite through the hull, and 
sometimes also through the chaffy covering of the grain, 



* "Histoire d'un Insecte qui devore les grains de rAngoumois." 12mo. 
Paris, 1762. See also "Histoire de TAcademie Royale des Sciences," Annee 
1761, p. 66, and "Memoires," p. 289, 4to. Paris, 1763. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 395 

through which it can make its escape easily when it becomes 
a winged moth. The insects of the first, or summer brood, 
come to maturity in about three weeks, remain but a short 
time in the chrysalis state, and turn to winged moths in the 
autumn, and at this time may be found, in the evening, in 
great numbers, laying their eggs on the grain stored in barns 
and granaries. The moth-worms of the second brood remain 
in the grain through the winter, and do not change to winged 
insects till the following summer, when they come out, fly into 
the fields in the night, and lay their eggs on the young ears of 
the growing grain. Although there seem to be two principal 
broods in the course of a year, we are not to understand that 
these are the only ones ; for French writers inform us, that 
others are produced during the whole summer, and that the 
production of the insects is accelerated or retarded by differ- 
ences in the temperature of the air.* When damaged grain 
is sown it comes up very thin; the infected kernels seldom 
sprout, but the insects lodged in them remain alive, finish their 
transformations in the field, and in due time come out of the 
ground in the winged form. 

To the foregoing sketch must now be added an account of 
an American grain-insect, which, in the first edition of this 
treatise, I suggested would prove to be the same as the An- 
goumois grain-moth. Having since obtained some of these 
American insects from various quarters, and having had a 
colony of them living and increasing, for three years, under 
my own eye, I find them to agree, in all essential particulars, 
with the European species. Until, therefore, they are proved, 
by actual comparison with perfect specimens of the latter, to 
be absolutely distinct, I must consider it as next to certain 
that they are identical, and that they have been introduced 
into this country from Europe. Perhaps, hereafter, the mode 
of their introduction may be as satisfactorily ascertained as 
that of the Hessian fly. In the year 1768, Colonel Landon 
Carter, of Sabine Hall, Virginia, communicated to the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society at Philadelphia some interesting 

* Olivier. Encyclopedie Methodique. Insectes. Tome IV., p. 115. 



396 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

" Observations concerning the fly-weevil that destroys wheat." 
These were printed in the first volume of the "Transactions" 
of the Society, and were followed by some remarks on the 
subject by "the Committee of Husbandry." This is the earli- 
est authentic account of the insect that I have met with. The 
Committee stated that "it was said the injury of wheat from 
these flies began in North Carolina about forty years before, — 
and that they had extended gradually from Carolina into Vir- 
ginia, Maryland, and the lower counties of Delaware, but had 
not then penetrated into Pennsylvania or passed the Delaware." 
They remarked, moreover, that the insects "appeared to be of 
the same kind with those that do the like mischief in Europe, 
as described to Mr. Duhamel by a gentleman of Angoumois." 
Mr. Louis A. G. Bosc, who was sent by the French govern- 
ment, in 1796, to this country, where he spent several years, 
found the Alucita cerealella " so abundant in Carolina as to 
extinguish a candle when he entered his granary in the night."* 
This fly-weevil, or little grain-moth, has spread from North 
Carolina and Virginia, where its depredations were first ob- 
served, into Kentucky, and the southern parts of Ohio and 
Indiana, and probably more or less throughout the wheat 
region of the adjacent States, between the thirty-sixth and 
fortieth degrees of north latitude. But these are not the 
extreme limits of its occasional depredations, as it has been 
found even in New England, where, however, its propagation 
seems to have been limited by the length and severity of the 
winter. Wheat, barley, oats, and Indian corn, suffer alike 
from it, the last especially when kept unprotected more than 
six or eight months. Several essays on this insect have ap- 
peared in agricultural journals, none of which, however, were 
known to me when my first account of the Angoumois moth 
was written. One of these is an elaborate article by Edward 
Ruflin, Esq., of Hanover county, Virginia, printed in "The 
Farmers' Register" for November, 1833. The object of the 
writer is to prove, by a series of experiments, that there is a 



* Encyclopedie Mfethodique. Agriculture. Tome V., p. 243. — Mr. Bosc, a 
contributor to this work, resided some time at Wilmington, North Carolina. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 397 

continued reproduction of tlie insect, in stored grain, at short 
intervals, throughout the warm season, or from the latter part 
of June till further increase is checked by cold weather. Mr. 
Ruffin thinks that but very few eggs are deposited on corn in 
the field, that these do not ordinarily hatch till the following 
summer, and that then they are sufficient to stock the whole 
crop of stored grain with their progeny. Mr. Samuel Judah, 
of Vincennes, Indiana, in a short and very sensible article, 
published in "The Indiana Farmer and Gardener" for Octo- 
ber 4, 1845, seems to have come to nearly the same conclu- 
sions. Mr. Richard Owen, of New Harmony, Indiana, has 
given a very good history of this insect, accompanied with 
w^ood-cuts, in " The Cultivator," for July and November, 1846. 
To this I may have occasion again to refer, as also to two 
other articles, on the same subject, by Edv^^ard Ruffin, Esq., in 
the sixth volume of " The American Agriculturist," pages 52 
and 93, published in February and March, 1847. 

In the summer of 1840, Mr. E. C. Herrick, of New Haven, 
Connecticut, sent to me a few grains of wheat, that had been 
eaten by moth-worms precisely in the same way as grain is 
attacked by the Angoumois insect; and a gentleman, to whom 
this moth-eaten wheat was shown, informed me that he had 
seen grain thus affected in Maine. Unfortunately, the insects 
contained in this wheat were dead when receired, having 
perished in the chrysalis state. Had they lived to finish their 
transformations, they would have afforded me an opportunity 
of ascertaining their suspected identity with the fly-weevil of 
Virginia, and the Angoumois moth of France. All my at- 
tempts to obtain specimens of the fly-weevil from the South 
and West were unsuccessful, till the tenth of November, 1845, 
when I had the pleasure of receiving a parcel of damaged 
wheat and a bottle full of the moths from Richmond, Virginia, 
through the kindness of Mr. John Dunlop Osborne, then a 
student in the Law School of Harvard College. Living speci- 
mens, and the insects in the worm or larva state, were still 
wanting. These were most unexpectedly obtained nearer 
home. The late Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., of Worcester, 
told me, in the summer of 1844, that he had a quantity of 



398 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

corn, grown the year before, which had become infested with 
insects, and that he found great numbers of the insects, on the 
wing, in the room where the corn was kept. He also brought 
to me two large ears of corn from the infected heap. At that 
time, I was not aware that the fly-weevil attacked Indian corn, 
at least in New England; and these ears, appearing sound 
externally, were rolled up in several sheets of strong brown 
paper, securely tied, and laid away for future examination. 
They were forgotten, however, till December, 1845, when, 
upon opening the parcel, I found a great quantity of dead 
moths, and several living ones, in the paper. Every kernel 
appeared to have been perforated, and many of the kernels 
had three or four holes in each of them. Some contained the 
insect in the worm state, and some the fully formed chrysalis. 
The moths differed from the Virginia fly-weevil only in being 
rather larger, with blackish fore legs, and in having a more 
conspicuous blackish spot near the tips of the feelers, showing 
them to be merely varieties of the same species. This remark 
seems to be confirmed by the now well known fact that the 
fly-weevil, at the South and West, attacks corn as well as 
wheat, and by the statement of Mr. Owen, that "the insect 
found in corn does not differ from that found in wheat; it is 
usually," says he, " somewhat larger than the specimens from 
wheat, but this may be owing to the greater amount of nour- 
ishment which the corn has afforded." Moreover, we learn 
from the works of Olivier and of Bonafous,* that maize also 
suffers from the Angoumois moth in France. It is related 
that Kalm, the Swedish traveller, on finding some bugs in 
pease that he had carried home from this country, was filled 
with alarm, "fearing lest he might thereby introduce so great 
an evil into his beloved Sweden." With something of the 
same feeling, on finding what the insects were that had been 
depredating in my friend's corn-bin, I put the two ears of corn 
into a large glass jar, and corked it tight, to prevent the escape 
of any moths that might be developed from worms and chry- 



* Encyclopedie M^thodique. Insectes. Tome IV., p. 121. — Histoire du 
Mais, par M. Bonafous, p. 111. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 399 

salids remaining in the kernels. The next June, a swarm of 
moths appeared in the jar, in which they continued to propa- 
gate three years, successively, producing moths in considerable 
quantities in June and in August, with a smaller number at 
various intermediate times, except during the depth of winter. 
These corn-moths, as already stated, were rather larger than 
those from the wheat, the wings of some of them expanding 
nearly six tenths of an inch,* The head is smooth and not 
tufted. The antennae are threadlike, with distinctly marked 
joints. The feelers are long and curved upwards; the terminal 
joint naked, acute, and blackish near the tip; the second or 
middle joint rather shorter and thicker, hairy beneath, and 
blackish on the outer side ; the basal joint very short and hairy. 
The tongue makes several spiral turns, and, when extended, 
is about half the length of the antennae. The body and fore 
wings are of that tint of pale brownish gray, which the French 
call coffee and milk color, and they have the lustre of satin. 
The fore wings are long and narrow, and are pointed at the 
end ; together with their wide fringes, they are more or less 
sprinkled with blackish dots, especially near the tips. The 
hind wings are blackish, with a leaden lustre; they are narrow, 
and are very suddenly and obliquely contracted to a point at 
the tips; they are entirely surrounded with a blackish fringe, 
which is wider on the inner margin than the wing itself. They 
are folded lengthwise, when at rest, beneath the upper wings. 
The fore legs are blackish, and the hindmost legs are fringed 
with long hairs on the inner side. The chrysalis is obtuse at 
each end; the tail surrounded with a few minute points, three 
of which are larger than the rest; the rings of the body are 
smooth, or not notched; and the wing-cases extend nearly to 
the hinder extremity. The chrysalis-skin generally remains 
within the grain when the moth comes out; in some few 
cases, however, it was found sticking out of the orifice in the 

* Mr. Curtis, probably through inadvertence, has stated that Butalis cerealella 
•' expands rather more than one inch." Half an inch is the true measure. See 
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Vol. VII., p. 8G. Com- 
pare Duponchel, Hist. Nat. des Lepidopteres de France. Supplement. Tome 
IV., pi. 85, fig. 3. 



400 INSECTS INJTJEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

kernel, and sometimes in the crevices between the kernels. 
The foregoing minute description, which is taken from per- 
fectly fresh and uninjured specimens, will serve to remove any 
doubt as to the genus and species to which this corn-moth is 
to be referred. 

It has been proved by experience that the ravages of the two 
kinds of grain-moths, whose history has been now given, can 
be effectually checked by drying the damaged grain in an oven 
or kiln ; and that a heat of one hundred and sixty-seven de- 
grees, by Fahrenheit's thermometer, continued during twelve 
hours, will kill the insects in all their forms. Indeed the heat 
may be reduced to one hundred and four degrees, with the 
same effect, but the grain must then be exposed to it for the 
space of two days. Insect-mills, somewhat like coffee-roasters 
on a large scale, have been invented in France, for the purpose 
of heating and agitating the infested wheat, by which the eggs 
and larvae of the little corn-moth, or Butalis, are destroyed. 
Fumigation, in close vessels, with the gas of burning charcoal, 
is found to be an effectual remedy ; and Dr. Herpin states that 
this process neither imparts any bad flavor to the grain, nor 
does it impair its power of vegetating. He recommends also 
the early threshing and winnowing of wheat, as tending to 
preserve it* This, indeed, is advocated by the most experi- 
enced wheat cultivators in this country, particularly if done by 
machinery; and it should not be deferred later than the end of 
July. The concussion and agitation undergone by the wheat 
in being threshed and winnowed, as intimated by Dr. Herpin, 
Mr. Judah, and others, is supposed to dislodge the eggs and 
kill the larvae of the insect. With the same view, Mr. Owen 
recommends passing the new wheat through " a rubbing mill, 
such as is used in Virginia and other large wheat growing 
districts, to ensure first-rate flour;" after which the wheat may 
be kept in bulk, or may be immediately ground. If a large 
surface of grain be exposed in the barn, the granary, or the 



* See Duponchol. L^pidopt. de France. Supplem. Tome IV., pp. 450-453 ; 
and Mr. Curtis's paper in the Journ. Royal Society of Agricult. of England. 
Vol. VII., pp. 87-89. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 401 

mill, during the season of the moth, it will assuredly become 
affected ; for, in the night, when these insects arc most active 
and on the wing, they will light upon the exposed surface and 
deposit their eggs, which, in a few months of hot weather, 
will produce numerous and successive broods of moth-worms. 
To secure it from attack, therefore, the grain should be depos- 
ited in tight bins or casks, after having been properly prepared 
by being dried in a kUn, or even by exposure to the heat of the 
sun. Some persons have succeeded perfectly in preserving 
grain from the corn-weevil and from the corn-moth by putting 
it into casks, heated and fumigated with burning charcoal. 
The charcoal may be burnt in a portable furnace, lowered 
into the cask by a chain ; and the grain should be poured in 
while the cask is hot. It has been observed that a low tem- 
perature checks the propagation of the corn-moth, and that 
the larvas, or moth-worms, in the grain, cannot survive the 
winter in those places where the thermometer falls to zero. 
Hence, in the cool and well-ventilated corn-barns of New 
England, grain will ordinarily be exempt from attack. Dviring 
the summer, however, grain that has been brought from in- 
fected districts, or that has otherwise become contaminated, 
will be likely to suffer to some extent, even here. From these 
facts we learn how important it is that wheat and corn, which 
are to be kept over winter, for use, for sale, or for seed, should 
be previously well prepared, and should be deposited in suit- 
able vessels in cool apartments, no matter how cold, provided 
they are also dry. It has been observed that very little corn 
is attacked in the field, the husks or shucks protecting it from 
the moths, which find only a few ears, whose ends protrude 
beyond the husks, whereon to deposit their eggs. Hence some 
persons recommend keeping corn in the husks, to preserve it 
from the corn-moth and also from the corn-weevil. This 
method is objectionable on account of the trouble it occasions, 
and the increased bulk of the corn; and it is less sure than 
the means above described. 

Mr. Owen has made the interesting discovery that the larvae 
of the wheat-moth are sometimes preyed upon by still smaller 
larvse, which, having destroyed their victims, are transformed 
51 



402 INSECTS INJUEIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

to minute black ichneumon-flies. These have not yet been 
obtained from any of the samples of infected wheat or corn 
that have come under my notice ; but, from the figures given 
of them by Mr. Owen in " The Cultivator," for November, 
1846, they appear evidently to be Chalcidian parasites, and 
belong perhaps to the genus Pteromalus. Of these parasitical 
flies he remarks, that " some farmers had noticed large num- 
bers among the tailings of the winnowing machine." Where 
they prevail, they doubtless contribute, in no small measure, 
to check the increase of the moths. 

The Angoumois moth is unknown in England. Hence 
specimens of the American insect, sent by me to my friend 
the late Mr. Edward Doubleday, of the British Museum, in 
December, 1845, were not immediately recognized by him and 
by Mr. Curtis, the celebrated English entomologist. After- 
wards, on consulting the work of Duponchel on the Lepido- 
ptera of France, they identified my specimens as belonging to 
the Butalis cerealella, the true Angoumois grain-moth, described 
and figured in that work. This identification is the more in- 
teresting and satisfactory, from the circumstance that I had 
not communicated to these gentlemen my belief that the 
insects were the same, and had given to them no account of 
the habits of my specimens, being desirous of obtaining their 
opinion unbiassed by my own. I am not aware that any 
attempt had been made by European naturalists, before the 
publication of the first edition of this treatise, to determine 
the modern genus to which the Angoumois moth belongs, or 
to clear up and make known the synonymy of this species. 
This labor seems to have been left to an American, remote 
from the scene of the early and long continued depredations • 
of the insect, and deprived of the common facilities enjoyed 
by European naturalists. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 403 

7. Feather-winged Moths. {Alucitcc.) 

The last tribe of Lepidopterous insects remaining to be 
noticed, contains the ALuciTiE of Linnaeus, or feather-winged 
moths, called Pterophorid^ by the French naturalists. These 
moths are easUy known by their wings being divided length- 
wise into narrow, fringed branches, resembling feathers. The 
fore wings in the genus Pterophorus are split, nearly half way, 
into two, and the hind wings are divided, to the shoulder-joint, 
into three feathers ; and each of the wings, in Alucita, consists 
of six feathers, connected only at the joint. The antennsB of 
these moths are slender and tapering; the tongue is long; the 
feelers are two in number, and of moderate length; and the 
body and legs are very long and slender. When at rest their 
wings do not cover the body, but stand out from it on each 
side, not spread however, but folded together like a fan, so that 
only the outer part of each of the fore wings is visible. They 
fly slowly and feebly, some of them by day, and others only 
at night, and, when on the wing, they somewhat resemble the 
long-legged gnats. Their caterpillars are rather short and thick, 
are clothed with a few hairs, and have sixteen short legs. Most 
of them live on the leaves of low or herbaceous plants, and, 
when about to change to chrysalids, they fasten themselves by 
the hind feet and by a loop over the back, like the Lycasnians. 
Those which belong to the genus Alucita are said to live in 
buds, and undergo their transformations in thin, transparent 
cocoons. The number of species in this tribe is small; and 
those that are found in this country are so few, and of so little 
consequence, in an economical point of view, that a particular 
description of them will not be necessary in this treatise. 



404 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



HYMENOPTERA. 

Stingers, and Pieecehs. — Habits of some of the Hymenoptera. — Saw- 
Flies, and Slugs. Elm Saw-Fly. Fir Saw-Fly. Yine Saav-Fly. Rose- 
bush Slug. Pear-tree Slug. — Horn-tailed Wood- Wasps. — Gall-Flies. 
— Chalcidians. Barley Insect and Joint-Worm. 

Bees, wasps, ants, saw-flies, and ichneumon-flies, of many- 
different kinds, together with other insects, unknown by any 
common names in the English language, belong to the order 
Hymenoptera. Their wings are four in number, are traversed 
by a few, branching veins, and are more or less transparent, or 
of a thin and filmy texture, as expressed by the name of the 
order, which signifies membranaceous wings. They fly swiftly, 
and are able to keep on the wing much longer than any other 
insects, because their bodies are light, and compact, and their 
wings very thin, narrow, and withal very strong. They have 
four nippers or jaws; the upper pair being horny, stout, and 
fitted for biting or cutting; the lower are longer and softer, 
and, with the lower lip, which they cover, form a kind of beak 
or sucker. Their antennse vary in form and length ; but are 
most often cylindrical, and of equal thickness to the end. 
The males have no weapons of offence or defence except their 
jaws. The females are armed with a venomous sting, con- 
cealed within the end of the hind body, or are provided with 
a piercer, of some sort, for boring or sawing the holes wherein 
their eggs are deposited. Hence the insects of this order may 
be divided into two groups. Stingers, and Piercers. Though 
both of them undergo a complete transformation in coming to 
maturity, they differ from each other in the early states of their 
existence. The young of all the stinging Hymenoptera are 
soft, white, and maggot-shaped, and are without legs; some 
of those of the Piercers have the same form, but the others 
more nearly resemble grubs and caterpillars, having a horny 
head, and six jointed legs, and some of them numerous fleshy 



HYMENOPTERA. 405 

proplegs, besides. The latter, when food fails them in one 
place, are able to creep to another, and can look out for them- 
selves a proper place of shelter, wherein to go through with 
their transformations. The others are exceedingly helpless, 
and depend wholly upon the instinctive foresight of their 
parents, or the daily care of attentive nurses, for their food 
and habitations. When fully grown, nearly all of these young 
insects spin oblong oval cocoons, wherein they change to chrysa- 
lids, and finally to winged insects. A few, however, never 
obtain wings in the adult state; but these are mostly certain 
neuter and female ants, the males of which possess wings. 
With the exception of the white ants, belonging to another 
order, it is only among Hymenopterous insects that we find 
certain individuals constantly barren, and hence called neuters. 
These form the principal part of those communities of bees, 
of wasps, and of ants, that unite in making a habitation for 
the whole swarm, and in providing a stock of provisions for 
their own use, and for that of their helpless brood; and nearly 
or quite all the labor falls upon these industrious neuters, 
whose care and affection for the young, which they foster and 
shelter, could not be greater were they their own offspring. 

Hymenopterous insects love the light of the sun ; they take 
wing only during the daytime, and remain at rest in the night, 
and in dull and wet weather. They excel all other insects in 
the number and variety of their instincts, which are wonder- 
fully displayed in the methods employed by them in providing 
for the comfort and the future wants of their offspring. In 
the introductory chapter some remarks have ah'eady been 
made on their habits and economy; and the limits of this 
work will not allow me now to enlarge upon them. I shall 
not, therefore, attempt to show how admirably the Hymeno- 
ptera are fitted, in the formation of all their parts, for their 
appointed tasks. If any of my readers are curious to learn 
this, and to witness for themselves the various arts, resources, 
and contrivances resorted to by these insects, let them go 
abroad in the summer, and watch them during their labors. 
They will then see the saw-fly making holes in leaves with 
her double key-hole saws, and the horn-tail boring with her 



406 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

auger into the solid trunks of trees; — they will not fail to 
observe and admire the untiring scrutiny of the ichneumon- 
flies, those little busy-bodies, for ever on the alert, and prying 
into every place to find the lurking caterpillar, grub, or mag- 
got, wherein to thrust their eggs; — the curious swellings pro- 
duced by the gall-flies, and inhabited by their young; — the 
clay cells of the mud-wasp, plastered against the walls of our 
houses, each one containing a single egg, together with a large 
number of living spiders, caught and imprisoned therein solely 
for the use of the little mason's young, which thus have con- 
stantly before them an ample supply of fresh provisions; — 
the holes of the stump-wasp, stored with hundreds of horse- 
flies for the same purpose; — the skill of the leaf-cutter bee in 
cutting out the semicircular pieces of leaves for her patchwork 
nest; — the thimble-shaped cells of the ground-bee, hidden, in 
clusters, under some loose stone in the fields, made of little 
fragments of tempered clay, and stored with bee-bread, the 
work of many weeks for the industrious laborer; — the waxen 
cells made by the honey-bee, without any teaching, upon 
purely mathematical principles, measured only with her an- 
tennsB, and wrought with her jaws and tongue; — the water- 
tight nests of the hornet and wasp, natural paper-makers from 
the beginning of time, who are not obliged to use rags or 
ropes in the formation of their durable paper combs, but have 
applied to this purpose fibres of wood, a material that the art 
of man has not yet been able to manufacture into paper; — 
the herculean labors of ants in throwing up their hillocks, or 
mining their galleries, compared wherewith, if the small size 
of the laborers be taken into account, the efforts of man in his 
proudest monuments, his pyramids and his catacombs, dwindle 
into insignificance. These are only a few of the objects de- 
serving of notice among the insects of this order ; many others 
might be mentioned, that would lead us to observe with what 
consummate skill these little creatures have been fashioned, 
and how richly they have been endowed with instincts, that 
never fail them in providing for their own welfare, and that of 
their future progeny. 

Comparatively speaking, there are not many of the Hymeno- 



HYMENOPTERA. 407 

ptera which are actually or seriously injurious to vegetation. 
Those which I propose now to describe are not provided with 
venomous stings, and, consequently, are to be included among 
the Piercers. 

Such are the saw-flies (Tenthredinid^e), insects that are 
found on the leaves of plants, and live almost entirely on vege- 
table food. They are the least active of the Hymen optera, are 
sluggish in their habits, fly heavily and but little, and do not 
attempt to escape when touched. Most of them are rather 
short and somewhat flattened. They have a broad head, 
which, seen from above, appears transversely square. The 
hind body is not narrowed to a point where it joins the tho- 
rax, but is as broad as the latter, and is closely united to it. 
The antennsB are generally short ; but they vary much in form ; 
in many species they are threadlike and slightly tapering ; in 
some, thickened or knobbed at the end ; more rarely they end 
suddenly with a few very small joints, much more slender than 
the rest; they are feathered in some males, and notched in the 
other sex ; and sometimes they are forked, or divided into long 
branches. Their wings cross and overlap each other, and cover 
the back horizontally when closed. But the most striking 
peculiarity of these insects consists in the double saws where- 
with the females are provided. These are lodged in a deep 
chink under the hinder part of the body, like the blade of a 
penknife in its handle, and are covered by tv\^o, narrow, scab- 
bard-like pieces. The saws are two in number, placed side by 
side, with their ends directed backwards, and are so hinged to 
the under side of the body that they can be withdrawn from 
the chink, and moved up and down when in use. They vary 
in their form, and in the shape of their teeth, in different kinds 
of saw-flies; but they generally curve upwards and taper 
towards the end, and are toothed along the lower or convex 
edges. Each of the saws, like a carpenter's fine saw, has a 
back to steady it; the blade, however, is not fastened to the 
back, but slides backwards and forwards upon it. Moreover, 
the saw-blade is not only toothed on the edge, but is covered, 
on one side, with transverse rows of very fine teeth, giving to 
it the power of a rasp, as well as that of a saw. 



408 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 






The female saw-flies use these ingeniously contrived tools 
to saw little slits in the stems and leaves of plants, wherein 
they afterwards drop their eggs. Some, it appears, lay their 
eggs in frnits ; for Mr. Westwood discovered their young within 
apples that had fallen from the trees before they had grown to 
the size of walnuts. The wounds made in plants by some 
kinds of saw-flies swell, and produce galls or knobs, that serve 
for habitations and for food to their young. The eggs, them- 
selves, of all these flies, are found to grow, and increase to 
twice their former size after they are laid, probably by absorb- 
ing the sap of the plant through their thin shells. 

Most of the larvBB or young of the saw-flies strikingly re- 
semble caterpillars, being usually of a cylindrical form, of a 
greenish color, and having several pairs of legs. Hence they 
are sometimes called false caterpillars. With the exception 
of such as belong to the genera Lyda and Cephus, in which 
the legs are only six, and the proplegs are entirely wanting, 
these false caterpillars have a greater number of legs than 
true caterpillars, being provided with from eighteen to twenty- 
two; but their proplegs have not the numerous little hooks 
that arm those of caterpillars. They have the means of spin- 
ning silk from their lower lips, but not often in any great 
quantity. They are mostly naked and without hairs; a few 
have forked prickles on their backs ; some are covered with a 
white flaky substance, that easily rubs off"; and others have a 
dark colored slimy skin, which has caused them to be called 
slugs or slug-worms. They shed their skins about four times, 
and, after the last moulting, often materially change in appear- 
ance. Not only do these insects resemble caterpillars in their 
forms, but they have nearly the same habits. They are gen- 
erally fonnd on the leaves of plants, which they devour. Many 
kinds are altogether solitary ; a few live together in swarms, 
under silken webs, which they spin for a common place of 
shelter; others are found also in swarms, but without any 
webs over them, and, when disturbed, they throw up their 
heads and tails, in a very odd way ; some roll up leaves, and 
live in the hollow thus formed, like the Tortrices ; others make 
portable cases of bits of leaves, which they carry about on 



HYMEXOPTERA. 409 

their backs, like the Tinese ; certain kinds live within the stems 
of plants, and devour the pith; and wheat, in Europe, is said 
to suffer considerable ijijury from internal feeders [Cephus 
pygmcBUs) of this kind. When fully grown, most of them go 
into the ground, and enclose themselves in thin sillvcn cocoons, 
of an oblong oval shape, coated with grains of earth. Some 
make much thicker cocoons, in texture resembling parchment, 
and fasten them to the plants on which they live, or conceal 
them in crevices, or under leaves and stones on the ground. 
They generally remain for a long time unchanged in their 
cocoons, most of them during the winter; are transformed to 
chrysalids, of a whitish color, in the spring, and come out in 
the winged form soon afterwards. Of some kinds there are 
two broods in the course of the summer, the false caterpillars 
of the first brood coming to their growth, and passing through 
all then* transformations, within six or seven weeks from their 
fii'st appearance. 

The names of above sixty native species of saw-flies may 
be found in my " Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts." 
Some of these are very interesting in their appearance and 
habits in the caterpillar state. In what follows an account 
will be given of one of the largest species, and of some smaller 
kinds, that have been found very injurious to cultivated plants. 

Our largest saw-fly belongs to the genus Cimbex. This 
name w^as originally given by the Greeks to certain insects 
resembling bees and wasps, but not producing honey. It 
therefore applies very well to some kinds of saw-flies, such as 
the female of this species, which, at first sight, might be mis- 
taken for a hornet. Her head and thorax are shining black. 
Her hind body is oval, and of a steel blue or deep violet color, 
with three or four oval yellowish spots on each side. Her 
antennae are buff-colored, except at the base, where they are 
dusi^y; they are short, and end with an egg-shaped knob. 
Her wings are smoky brown, and semitransparent. Her legs 
are blue-black, and her feet pale yellow. The length of her 
body varies from three quarters to seven eighths of an inch, 
and her wings expand an inch and three quarters or more. In 
the manuscript lectures of the late Professor Peck, she is called 
52 



410 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO \^GETATION. 

Cimbex Vlmi, because she inhabits the elm. The male is the 
Cimhex Americana of Dr. Leach, and differs so much from 
the female, that it might be taken for a different species. His 
body is longer and narrower than that of the female, and 
wants the white spots on the sides; and there is a transverse, 
oval hole, filled with a whitish film, behind the thorax, which 
is hardly perceptible in the other sex. His hind legs are very 
thick; the shins are bowed, and hairy within; and the first 
joint of his feet ends with a stout hook, curved inwards. He 
often measures an inch in length, and his wings expand about 
two inches. These insects appear from the latter part of May 
to the middle of June, during which period the female lays 
her eggs upon the common American elm, the leaves whereof 
are the food of her young. The latter come to their growth 
in August, and then measure from one inch and a half to two 
inches in length. They are rather thick, and nearly cylindrical 
in form, and have twenty-two legs, or a pair to every ring 
except the fourth. They have a firm, rough skin, of a pale 
greenish yellow color, covered with numerous transverse wi"in- 
kles, with a black stripe, consisting of two narrow black lines, 
along the top of the back, from the head to the tail ; and their 
spiracles, or breathing-holes, are also black. When at rest, 
they lie on their sides, curled up in a spiral form, and, in this 
position, look not much unlike some kinds of cockle or snaU 
shells. Like all the false caterpillars of the genus Cimbex, 
this insect, when handled or disturbed, betrays its fears or its 
displeasure by spirting out a watery fluid from certain little 
pores situated on the sides of its body just above its spiracles. 
After its feeding state is over, it crawls down from the tree to 
the ground, and conceals itself under fallen leaves or other 
rubbish, and there makes an oblong oval, brown cocoon, very 
closely woven, as tough as parchment, and about an inch 
in length. In this the false caterpillar remains unchanged 
throughout the winter, and is not transformed to a chrysalis 
till the following spring. At length the insect bursts its chry- 
salis skin, and, by pushing against the end of its cocoon, forces 
off a little circular piece like a lid, and through the opening 
thus made it comes forth in its winged form. 



HYMENOPTER A. 4 1 1 

For some years past many of the fir-trees, cultivated for 
ornament, in this vicinity, have been attacked by swarms of 
false caterpillars, and, in some instances that have fallen under 
my notice, have been nearly stripped of their leaves every 
summer, and in consequence thereof have been checked in 
their growth, and now seem to be in a sickly condition. 
These destructive insects agree in their habits and in their 
general appearance, in all their states, with the pine and fir 
saw-flies, described by Kollar,* by whose ravages whole forests 
of these trees have been destroyed in some parts of Germany. 
It is probable, however, that the American fir saw-flies are not 
identical with those of Europe, as they differ from them rather 
too much to have originated from the same stock ; neither do 
they sufficiently agree with Dr. Leach's descriptions of Lophy- 
rus Americanus, Abbotii, compar, &c. ; and, therefore, I propose 
to name this apparently undescribed species Lophyrus Abietis, 
the Lophyrus of the fir-tree. The following is a description 
of the insect in its winged state. The two sexes differ very 
much from each other in size and color, and still more remark- 
ably in the form of their antennae. The male is the smallest, 
measures one quarter of an inch in length, and expands his 
wings about two fifths of an inch. His body is black above, 
and brown beneath ; his wings are transparent, with change- 
able tints of rose-red, green, and yellow; and his legs are 
wholly of a dirty leather-yellow color. His antennae resemble 
very short, black feathers, wide at the end, and narrowed to a 
point, and are curled inwards on each edge, so as to appear 
hollow. The genus Lophyrus derives its name from the plume- 
like crest on the heads of the male insects. The body of the 
female is about three tenths of an inch long, and her wings 
expand half an inch or more. She is of a yellowish brown 
color above, with a short blackish stripe on each side of the 
middle of the thorax ; her body beneath and her legs are paler, 
of a dirty leather-yellow color; and her wings resemble those 
of the male. Her antennae are short, taper to a point, consist 
of nineteen joints, and are toothed on one side like a saw. 

* "Treatise," pp. 340 and 347. 



412 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

My specimens of this kind of saw-fly, which were raised from 
the caterpillars in the summer of 1838, came out of their 
cocoons towards the end of July in the same year; but I have 
also found them on pines and firs early in May. The Euro- 
pean pine saw-flies lay their eggs in slits which they make 
with their saws in the edges of the leaves; and it is probable 
that our fir saw-flies proceed in the same way. In June and 
July the false caterpillars of the latter may be found on firs ; 
and, according to notes made by me many years ago, the same 
insects, or some very much like them, were observed on the 
leaves of the pitch-pine also. They are social in their habits, 
living together in considerable swarms, and so thick that some- 
times two may be seen feeding together on the same leaf, and 
sitting opposite to each other. In order to lay hold of the leaf 
more firmly they curl the hinder part of the body around it; 
and, if they are disturbed, they throw up their heads and tails 
with a jerking motion. When fully grown, they are from five 
to six tenths of an inch in length ; they are nearly cylindrical 
in form, thickest before the middle, and tapering behind, and 
have twenty-two legs. The head, and the first three pairs of 
legs, are black. The body is of a pale and du'ty green color 
above, with a light stripe along the top of the back, separating 
two of a darker green color; there are two dark green stripes 
on each side of the body; and the belly and proplegs are yel- 
lowish. When young, the two stripes on the back are much 
darker, and those on the sides are nearly black. The skin, 
though covered with very fine transverse wrinkles, is not rough, 
and, with a magnifying glass, a few short hairs may be seen 
scattered over it. After the last moulting their color fades, 
and they become almost yellow. The greater part of them 
then suddenly leave the trees, either by travelling down the 
trunks, or by falling from the branches to the ground. A few, 
either from weakness or from some other cause, remain on the 
trees, make their cocoons among the leaves, and rarely finish 
their transformations, most of them perishing from the internal 
attacks of ichneumon-grubs. Some creep into cracks in fences 
and into other crevices; but most of those which reach the 
ground bury themselves under decayed leaves, or among the 



HYMENOPTERA. 413 

roots of the grass, and, in such secure places, make their co- 
coons. The latter arc oblong oval cases, of tough grayish 
silk, and measure nearly three tenths of an inch in length. In 
due time the insects change to saw-flies, and come out of their 
cocoons, one end whereof separates, like a lid, to allcrw of 
their escape. Although some of them are found to finish 
their transformations in August, it is probable that the greater 
part of them remain unchanged in the ground till the follow- 
ing spring. 

No means for the destruction of the caterpillars of the fir 
saw-fly have been tried here, except showering them with 
soapsuds, and with solutions of whale-oil soap, which has 
been found effectual. They may also be shaken off or beaten 
from the trees, early in the morning, when they are torpid and 
easily fall, and may be collected in sheets, and be burned or 
given to swine. For other means to check their depredations 
the reader may consult the articles on the pine and fir saw- 
flies of Europe, contained in KoUar's " Treatise." 

The following account of a kind of saw-fly which attacks 
the grape-vine is chiefly extracted from my " Discourse before 
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1832," where the 
insect is named Selandria Vitis. The saw-fly of the vine is 
of a jet-black color, except the upper side of the thorax, which 
is red, and the fore legs and under side of the other legs, which 
are pale yellow or whitish. The wings are semitransparent, 
of a smoky color, with dark brown veins. The body of the 
female measures one quarter of an inch in length, that of the 
male is somewhat shorter. These flies rise from the ground 
in the spring, not all at one time, but at irregular intervals, 
and lay their eggs on the lower side of the terminal leaves of 
the vine. In the month of July the false caterpillars, hatched 
from these eggs, may be seen on the leaves, in little swarms, 
of various ages, some very small, and others fully grown. 
They feed in company, side by side, beneath the leaves, each 
swarm or fraternity consisting of a dozen or more individuals, 
and they preserve their ranks with a surprising degree of regu- 
larity. Beginning at the edge they eat the whole of the leaf 
to the stalk, and then go to another, which in like manner they 



414 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

devour, and thus proceed, from leaf to leaf, down the branch, 
till they have grown to their full size. They then average five 
eighths of an inch in length, are somewhat slender and taper- 
ing behind, and thickest before the middle. They have twenty- 
two legs. The head and the tip of the tail are black ; the 
body, above, is light green, paler before and behind, with two 
transverse rows of minute black points across each ring ; and 
the lower side of the body is yellowish. After their last 
moulting they become almost entirely yellow, and then leave 
the vine, burrow in the ground, and form for themselves small 
oval cells of earth, which they line with a slight silken film. 
In about a fortnight after going into the ground, having in the 
mean time passed through the chrysalis state, they come out 
of their earthen cells, take wing, pair, and lay their eggs for a 
second brood. The young of the second brood are not trans- 
formed to flies until the following spring, but remain at rest 
in their cocoons in the ground through the winter. For some 
years previous to the publication of my " Discourse," I ob- 
served that these insects annually increased in number, and, 
in the year 1832, they had become so numerous and destruct- 
ive that many vines were entirely stripped of their leaves by 
them. Whether the remedies then proposed by me, or any 
other means, have tended to diminish their numbers, or to 
keep them in check, I have not been able to ascertain, and 
have had no further opportunity for making observations on 
the insects themselves. At that time, air-slacked lime, which 
was found to be fatal to these false caterpillars of the vine, 
was advised to be dusted upon them, and strewed also upon 
the ground under the vines, to insure the destruction of such 
of the insects as might fall. A solution of one pound of com- 
mon hard soap in five or six gallons of soft water, is used by 
English gardeners to destroy the young of the gooseberry saw- 
fly ; and the same was recommended to be tried upon the in- 
sects under consideration. 

All the young of the saw-flies do not so closely resemble 
caterpillars as the preceding; some of them, as has already 
been stated, have the form of slugs or naked snails. Of this 
description is the kind called the slug-worm in this country. 



HYMENOPTERA. 415 

and the slimy grab of the pear-tree in Europe. So different 
are these from the other false caterpillars, that they would not 
be suspected to belong to the same family. Their relationship 
becomes evident, however, when they have finished their trans- 
formations ; and accordingly we find that the saw-flies of our 
slug-worms and those of the vine are so much alike in form 
and structure, that they are both included in the same genus. 
Moreover, there are certain false caterpillars intermediate in 
their forms and appearance between the slimy and slug-like 
kinds and those that more nearly resemble the true caterpillars; 
thus admirably illustrating the truth of the remark, that nature 
proceeds not with abrupt or unequal steps ; * or, in other words, 
that amidst the immense variety of living forms, wherewith 
this earth has been peopled, there is a regular gradation and 
connexion, which, in particular cases, if we fail to discover, it 
is rather to be attributed to our own ignorance and short- 
sightedness than to any want of harmony and regularity in 
the plan of the Creator. In considering the resemblances of 
species, we cannot fail to admire the care that has been 
taken, by almost insensible shades of difference among them, 
or by peculiar circumstances controlling their distribution, 
their habits of life, and their choice of food, to prevent them 
from commingling, Avhereby each species is made to preserve 
forever its individual identity. 

The saw-fly of the rose, which, as it does not seem to have 
been described before, may be called Selandria Rosce, from its 
favorite plant, so nearly resembles the slug-worm saw-fly as 
not to be distinguished therefrom except by a practised ob- 
server. It is also very much like Selandria barda, Vitis, and 
pi/g-mcBa, but has not the red thorax of these three closely allied 
species. It is of a deep and shining black color. The first 
two pairs of legs are brownish gray or dirty white, except the 
thighs, which are almost entirely black. The hind legs are 
black, with whitish knees. The wings are smoky, and trans- 
parent, with dark brown veins, and a brown spot near the 
middle of the edge of the first pair. The body of the male is 

* Natura saltus non facit. Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. I. 11. 



416 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

a little more than three twentieths of an inch long, that of the 
female one fifth of an inch or more, and the wings expand 
nearly or quite two fifths of an inch. These saw-flies come 
out of the ground, at various times, between the twentieth of 
May and the middle of June, during which period they pair 
and lay their eggs. The females do not fly much, and may 
be seen, during most of the day, resting on the leaves ; and, 
when touched, they draw up their legs, and fall to the ground. 
The males are more active, fly from one rose-bush to another, 
and hover around their sluggish partners. The latter, when 
about to lay their eggs, turn a little on one side, unsheathe 
their saws, and thrust them obliquely into the skin of tlie leaf, 
depositing, in each incision thus made, a single egg. The 
young begin to hatch in ten days or a fortnight after the eggs 
are laid. They may sometimes be found on the leaves as early 
as the first of June, but do not usually appear in considerable 
numbers till the twentieth of the same month. How long 
they are in coming to maturity, I have not particularly ob- 
served ; but the period of their existence in the caterpillar 
state probably does not exceed three weeks. They somewhat 
resemble young slug-worms in form, but are not quite so con- 
vex. They have a small, round, yellowish head, with a black 
dot on each side of it, and are provided with twenty-two short 
legs. The body is green above, paler at the sides, and yellow- 
ish beneath ; and it is soft, and almost transparent like jelly. 
The skin of the back is transversely wrinkled, and covered 
with minute elevated points; and there are two, small, triple- 
pointed warts on the edge of the first ring, immediately behind 
the head. These gelatinous and sluggish creatures eat the 
upper surface of the leaf in large irregular patches, leaving the 
veins and the skin, beneath, untouched ; and they are some- 
times so thick that not a leaf on the bushes is spared by them, 
and the whole foliage looks as if it had been scorched by fire, 
and drops off soon afterwards. They cast their skins several 
times, leaving them extended and fastened on the leaves ; after 
the last moulting they lose their semitransparent and greenish 
color, and acquire an opake yellowish hue. They then leave 
the rose-bushes, some of them slowly creeping down the stem. 



HYMENOPTERA. 417 

and others rolling np and dropping off, especially when the 
bushes are shaken by the wind. Having reached the ground, 
they burrow to the depth of an inch or more in the earth, 
where each one makes for itself a small oval cell, of grains of 
earth, cemented with a little gummy silk. Having finished 
their transformations, and turned to flies, within their cells, 
they come out of the ground early in August, and lay their 
eggs for a second brood of young. These, in turn, perform 
their appointed work of destruction in the autumn ; they then 
go into the ground, make their earthen cells, remain therein 
throughout the winter, and appear, in the winged form, in the 
following spring and summer. 

During several years past, these pernicious vermin have in- 
fested the rose-bushes in the vicinity of Boston, and have 
proved so injurious to them, as to have excited the attention 
of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, by whom a pre- 
mium of one hundred dollars, for the most successful mode of 
destroying these insects, was offered, in the summer of 1840. 
In the year 1832, I first observed them in gardens in Cam- 
bridge, and then made myself acquainted with their trans- 
formations. At that time they had not reached Milton, my 
former place of residence, and they did not appear in that place 
till six or seven years later. They now seem to be gradu- 
ally extending in all directions, and an effectual method for 
preserving our roses from their attacks has become very 
desirable to all persons who set any value on this beautiful 
ornament of our gardens and shrubberies. Showering or 
syringing the bushes with a liquor, made by mixing with water 
the juice expressed from tobacco by tobacconists, has been 
recommended ; but some caution is necessary in making this 
mixture of a proper strength, for if too strong it is injurious to 
plants ; and the experiment does not seem, as yet, to have 
been conducted with sufficient care to insure safety and suc- 
cess. Dusting lime over the plants when wet with dew has 
been tried, and found of some use ; but this and all other 
remedies will probably yield in efficacy to Mr. Haggerston's 
mixture of whale-oil soap and water, in the proportion of two 
pounds of the soap to fifteen gallons of water. Particular 
53 



418 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

directions, drawn up by Mr. Haggerston himself, for the pre- 
paration and use of this simple and cheap application, may 
be found in the " Boston Courier," for the twenty -fifth of June, 
1841, and also in most of our agricultural and horticultural 
journals of the same time. The utility of this mixture has 
already been repeatedly mentioned in this treatise, and it may 
be applied in other cases with advantage. Mr. Haggerston 
finds that it effectually destroys many kinds of insects ; and 
he particularly mentions plant-lice, red spiders, canker-worms, 
and a little jumping insect, which has lately been found quite 
as hurtful to rose-bushes as the slugs or young of the saw-fly. 
The little insect, alluded to, has been mistaken for a Thrips 
or vine-fretter ; it is, however, a leaf-hopper, or species of Tet- 
tig'onia, and is described in a former part of this treatise. 

According to the plan to which I have found it necessary to 
limit this work, only one more species of saw-fly remains to 
be described. Of the habits and transformations of this insect 
the late Professor Peck has given us an admirable account, 
under the title of a "Natural History of the Slug-worm," 
which was printed in Boston, in the year 1799, by order of 
the " Massachusetts Agricultural Society," and obtained the 
Society's premium of fifty dollars and a gold medal. As my 
own observations on this insect agree perfectly wdth those 
of Professor Peck, in the following remarks I have merely 
abridged and condensed his " Natural History of the Slug- 
worm," a work now out of print, and rarely to be met with. 
It will be proper to premise that Professor Peck was inclined 
to believe this slug-fly to be a variety of the Tenthredo Cerasi 
of Linnaeus, an insect found more commonly on the pear-tree 
in Europe than on the cherry, although it has a specific name 
derived from the latter tree. Most naturalists now reject the 
name given by Linnaeus to the slimy grub of the pear-tree, 
because it is not strictly correct, and substitute a specific name 
imposed upon it by Fabricius. The European insect, there- 
fore, is now called Selandria (Blennocampa) jEthiojis ; and a 
good account of it, by Mr. Westwood, may be found in the 
thirteenth volume of " The Gardener's Magazine." It is pos- 
sible that our slug-fly may have been imported from Europe, 



HYMENOPTERA. 419 

and it may turn out to be really a mere variety of the Euro- 
pean insect. Professor Peck was aware that it did not agree 
with the description, given by Linnaeus, of the latter ; and it 
appears to me that the difference between the two insects, in 
the^r winged state, is enough to entitle them to be considered 
as specifically distinct from each other. For this reason I 
shall retain for our insect the specific name adopted by Pro- 
fessor Peck, because this slug does really live upon the 
cherry, in this country, as well as on the pear tree ; and shall 
merely prefix to it the generical name which it should bear 
according to modern nomenclature. The fly of our slug-worm 
may therefore be called Selandria [Blennucampa) Cerasi. The 
meaning of the word Selandria is unknown to me. Blenno- 
campa signifies slimy caterpillar, a name which, it will be seen, 
may be applied with great propriety to om* slug-worm. 

This slug-fly is of a glossy black color, except the first two 
pairs of legs, which are dirty yellow or clay-colored, with 
blackish thighs, and the hind legs, which are dull black, with 
clay-colored knees. The wings are somewhat convex and 
rumpled or uneven on the upper side, like the wings of the 
saw-flies generally. They are transparent, reflecting the 
changeable colors of the rainbow, and have a smoky tinge, 
forming a cloud or broad band across the middle of the first 
pair; the veins are brownish. The body of the female meas- 
ures rather more than one fifth of an inch in length ; that of the 
male is smaller. In the year 1828, I observed these saw-flies, 
on cherry and plum trees, in Milton, on the tenth of May ; but 
they usually appear towards the end of May or early in June. 
Soon afterwards some of them begin to lay their eggs, and all 
of them finish this business and disappear within the space of 
three weeks. Their eggs are placed, singly, within little semi- 
circular incisions through the skin of the leaf, and generally 
on the lower side of it. The flies have not the timidity of 
many other insects, and are not easily disturbed while laying 
their eggs. On the fourteenth day afterwards, the eggs begin 
to hatch, and the young slug-worms continue to come forth 
from the fifth of June to the twentieth of July, according as 
the flies have appeared early or late in the spring. At first 



I 



420 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



the slugs are white ; but a slimy matter soon oozes out of 
their skin and covers their backs with an olive-colored sticky 
coat. They have twenty very short legs, or a pair under each 
segment of the body except the fourth and the last. The 
largest slugs are about nine twentieths of an inch in length, 
when fully grown. The head, of a dark chestnut color, is 
small, and is entirely concealed under the fore part of the 
body. They are largest before, and taper behind, and in form 
somewhat resemble minute tadpoles. They have the faculty 
of swelling out the fore part of the body, and generally rest 
with the tail a little turned up. These disgusting slugs live 
mostly on the upper side of the leaves of the pear and cherry 
trees, and eat away the substance thereof, leaving only the 
veins and the skin beneath untouched. Sometimes twenty or 
thirty of them may be seen on a single leaf; and, in the year 
1797, they were so abundant, in some parts of Massachusetts, 
that small trees were covered Avith them, and the foliage en- 
tirely destroyed ; and even the air, by passing through the 
trees, became charged with a very disagreeable and sickening 
odor, given out by these slimy creatures. The trees attacked 
by them are forced to throw out new leaves, during the heat 
of the summer, at the ends of the twigs and branches that 
still remain alive ; and this unseasonable foliage, which should 
not have appeared till the next spring, exhausts the vigor of 
the trees, and cuts off the prospect of fruit. The slug-worms 
come to their growth in twenty-six days, during which period 
they cast their skins five times. Frequently, as soon as the 
skin is shed, they are seen feeding upon it ; but they never 
touch the last coat, which remains stretched out upon the leaf. 
After this is cast off, they no longer retain their slimy appear- 
ance and olive color, but have a clean yellow skin, entirely 
free from viscidity. They change also in form, and become 
proportionally longer ; and their head and the marks between 
the rings are plainly to be seen. In a few hours after this 
change, they leave the trees, and, having crept or fallen to the 
ground, they burrow to the depth of from one inch to three or 
four inches, according to the nature of the soil. By moving 
their body, the earth around them becomes pressed equally on 



m 



HYMENOPTERA. 421 

all sides, and an oblong oval cavity is thus formed, and is after- 
wards lined with a sticky and glossy substance, to which the 
grains of earth closely adhere. Within these little earthen cells 
or cocoons the change to chrysalids takes place ; and, in six- 
teen days after the descent of the slug-worms, they finish their 
transformations, break open their cells, and crawl to the sur- 
face of the ground, where they appear in the fly form. These 
flies usually come forth between the middle of July and the 
first of August, and lay their eggs for a second brood of slug- 
worms. The latter come to their growth, and go into the 
ground, in September and October, and remain there till the 
following spring, when they are changed to flies, and leave 
their winter quarters. It seems that all of them, however, do 
not finish their transformations at this time ; some are found 
to remain unchanged in the ground till the following year; so 
that, if all the slugs of the last hatch in any one year should 
happen to be destroyed, enough, from a former brood, would 
still remain in the earth to continue the species. 

The disgusting appearance and smell of these slug-worms 
do not protect them from the attacks of various enemies. 
Mice and other burrowing animals destroy many of them in 
their cocoons, and it is probable that birds also prey vipon 
them when on the trees, both in the slug and the winged 
states. Professor Peck has described a minute ichneumon- 
fly, stated by Mr. Westwood to be a species of Encyrtiis, that 
stings the eggs of the slug-fly, and deposits in each one a 
single egg of her own. From this, in due time, a little mag- 
got is hatched, which lives in the shell of the slug-fly's egg, 
devours the contents, and afterwards is changed to a chrysalis, 
and then to a fly like its parent. Professor Peck found that 
great numbers of the eggs of the slug-fly, especially of the 
second hatch, were rendered abortive by this atom of existence. 

Ashes or quicklime, sifted on the trees by means of a sieve 
fastened to the end of a pole, was recommended, by the late 
Hon. John Lowell, of Roxbury, for the destruction of the slugs; 
and it is found to answer the pvirpose. It is probable that Mr. 
Haggerston's almost universal remedy may prove to be still 
more effectual. 



422 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The saw-flies, though undoubtedly belonging to the order 
Hymenoptera, depart from the general characters thereof more 
than any other insects in it. They are more dull and heavy 
in all their motions; they have not the powerful jaws of the 
predaceous tribes, nor the long and slender lower jaws and 
tongue of those that subsist upon honey. They live but a 
short time, and their food appears to be pollen, the tender 
parts of leaves, and sometimes the plant-lice and other soft- 
bodied insects frequenting flowers. In the stiffness of their 
upper wings, and the heaviness of their flight, they somewhat 
resemble beetles, and, analogically, may be said to typify the 
Coleoptera, or, in other words, they may be called the beetles 
of the Hymenoptera. They will be found, on comparison, to 
have some features in common with the crickets, which, with 
the earwigs, are also the representatives of the Coleoptera. 
Although they differ essentially from butterflies and moths, 
the resemblance of most of their young to caterpillars, in form 
and in habits, is very striking and remarkable. Hence the 
saw-flies plainly show the relation existing between the orders 
Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera, and serve closely to connect 
them together. 

The next piercing insects to be described belong to the 
family of Urocerid.e, or horn-tails, so called because they 
have a horny point at the end of the body. The Germans 
call them wood-wasps. Their antennsB are slender, and thread- 
lilvc, or tapering. They have a large head, convex before, and 
flat behind where it joins the thorax. Their wings are long, 
narrow, and strong, and overlap on the top of the back, when 
closed. The body is very long, and nearly or quite cylindrical; 
the thorax and the after part of the body are of equal thick- 
ness, and are closely joined together. The horn, at the end, 
is short, and conical or triangular, in the males; longer, and 
sometimes spear-pointed, in the females. Moreover the latter 
are provided with a long, cylindrical borer, hinged to the middle 
of the belly, which is furrowed to receive it. The borer usu- 
ally extends some distance beyond the end of the body, and 
consists of five pieces. The two outermost are grooved within, 
and, when shut, form a hollow tube or scabbard to the others, 






HYMENOPTERA. 423 

one of which represents the two backs of the saws of the saw- 
flies, joined together, and encloses two needles for boring holes. 
The part, serving for a back to these needles, is notched on 
each side, and the needles themselves, which are as fine as a 
hair, and as strong and elastic as wire, have several small 
teeth along the lower side towards the end. These needles, 
and the back in which they play, are so connected as to ap- 
pear to be only a single spear-pointed awl. With this com- 
plicated and powerful tool the females bore holes into the 
trunks of trees, wherein they drop their eggs. Their young 
are cylindrical and fleshy grubs, of a whitish color, with a 
small, rounded, horny head, and a pointed and horny tail. 
They have six very small legs under the fore part of the body, 
and are provided with strong and powerful jaws, wherewith 
they bore long holes in the trunks of the trees that they in- 
habit. Like other borers, these grubs are wood-eaters, and 
often do great damage to pines and firs, wherein they are most 
commonly found. When fully grown, the grubs make thin 
cocoons of silk, interwoven with little chips, in their burrows, 
and in them go through their transformations. The chrysalis 
is somewhat like the winged insect in form, but is of a yellow- 
ish white color, till near the time of its last change, and the 
wings and legs are folded under the breast; in all these respects 
it agrees with the chrysalids of other Hymenopterous insects. 
After the chrysalis skin is cast off", the winged insect breaks 
through its cocoon, creeps to the mouth of its buiTow, and 
gnaws through the covering of bark over it, so as to come out 
of the tree into the open air. It is stated that the grubs of 
the large species come to their growth in seven weeks after the 
eggs are laid. If this be true, and it seems hardly possible, 
the chrysalis state must last a long time, for the perfected 
insects have been known to come out of timber that had been 
cut up and applied to mechanical uses by the carpenter. Some 
persons have supposed that they attacked only diseased and 
decayed trees, in which it must be admitted they are often 
found in great numbers. But many instances might be men- 
tioned of their appetite for sound wood also, and it is probable 
that the presence of these insects, like that of many others, is 



424 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the cause and not the consequence of the decay of the trees 
wherein they live. It is stated in the London " Zoological 
Journal," that two hundred Scotch firs have been destroyed by 
the Urocerus Juvencus, in the woods of Henham Hall, the seat 
of the Earl of Stanhope, their trunks being bored through and 
through by the grubs of this insect. Mr. Westwood relates* 
that a piece of wood, twenty feet in length, from a fir-tree in 
Bewdley Forest, Worcestershire, England, was found to be 
so intersected by the burrows of these grubs, as to be fit for 
nothing but firevv'ood; and that the winged insects continued 
to come out of it, at the rate of five, six, or more each day, 
for the space of several weeks. Mr. Marsham states, on the 
authority of Sir Joseph Banks, that several specimens of Uro- 
cerus g-ig-as were seen to come out of the floor of a nursery in 
a gentleman's house, to the no small alarm and discomfiture 
of both nurse and children. The grubs must therefore have 
existed in the boards or timbers before they were employed in 
building, and these materials would not have been used if in a 
decayed state. The sexes of most of these insects differ con- 
siderably in size and color, and in the shape of their body and 
of their hind legs. There are not many different kinds, but 
they are very prolific, and abound in mountainous districts, 
and in temperate climates, where forests of pines and firs pre- 
vail. A new order was proposed for their reception by Mr. 
INIacleay, and was named Bomboptera, on account of the hum- 
ming sound that they make in flying. Their young partake of 
the nature of the wood-eating grubs of the Capricorn beetles, 
which therefore they may be said to represent, as the saw-flies 
do some of the leaf-eating insects of the same order. 

Eight of the Urocerid.e are enumerated in my " Catalogue 
of the Insects of Massachusetts," including two kinds of 
Xiphi/dria, which are now known to belong to the same 
family. 

In the autumn of 1826, Major E. M. Bartlett, of North- 
ampton, " found, on the body of one of his almost lifeless 
pear-trees, a dead insect, about one inch and a half long, at- 

* "Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects," Vol. II., p. 118. 



HYMENOPTERA. 425 

tached to the tree by its awl or borer, of about the same 
length, near an inch of which was fast in the hard wood ; and 
there were several deep punctures near it, evidently made by 
the same instrument, and in some of them eggs were deposit- 
ed." Not long afterwards Major Bartlett found that the body 
of this tree, two or three feet from the ground was pierced 
with many small holes, to the depth of an inch or more, and, 
in these holes, there were great numbers of larva?, about one 
sixth of an inch in length, which he supposed were hatched 
from the eggs seen there before ; and he came to the conclu- 
sion that the tree was " destroyed by the deadly needles of the 
winged insect" above mentioned.* The latter was subse- 
quently sent to me for examination, and enabled me to furnish 
an account of it, which, with a description of the male insect, 
was published in January, 1827, in the fifth volume of the 
" New England Farmer." The insect proved to be the Sirex 
Columha of Linnaeus, or Tremex Columba of modern natural- 
ists. Sirex is a corruption of the Greek name for a wild bee ; 
Tremex signifies a perforator, or maker of holes; and Columba 
a pigeon. The body of the female is cylindrical, about as 
thick as a common lead-pencil, and an inch and a half, or more, 
in length, exclusive of the borer, which is an inch long, and 
projects three eighths of an inch beyond the end of the body. 
The latter rounds upwards, like the stem of a boat, and is 
armed with a point or short horn. The head and the thorax 
are rust-colored, varied with black. The abdomen, or hinder 
and longest part of the body, is black, with seven ochre-yellow 
bands across the back, all of them but the first two interrupted 
in the middle. The horned tail, and a round spot before it, 
impressed as if with a seal, are ochre-yellow. The antennae 
are rather short and blunt, rust-colored, with a broad black ring 
in the middle. The wings expand two inches and a quarter, 
or more; they are smoky brown and semitransparent. The 
legs are ochre-yellow, with blackish thighs. The borer, awl, or 
needle, is as thick as a bristle, spear-pointed at the end, and of 
a black color; it is concealed, when not in use, between two 

« See '<Xe\v England Farmer," Vol. V., pp. 167, 175, 186, and 211. 

54 



426 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

narrow rust-colored side-pieces, forming a kind of scabbard tol>l 
it. This insect is figured and described in the second volume 
of the late Mr. Say's " American Entomology." The male 
does not appear to have been described by any author; and,, 
although agreeing, in some respects, with the two other spe- ■ 
cies, represented by Mr. Say, is evidently distinct from both off 
them. He is extremely unlike the female, in color, form, andl 
size, and is not furnished with the remarkable borer of the ■ 
other sex. He is rust-colored, variegated with black. His 
antennae are rust-yellow or blackish. His wings are smokyX 
but clearer than those of the female. His hind body is some* 
what flattened, rather widest behind, and ends with a conical* 
horn. His hind legs are flattened, much wider than those off 
the female, and of a blackish color; the other legs are rust-- 
colored, and more or less shaded with black. The length off 
his body varies from three quarters of an inch to one inch and ' 
a quarter; and his wings expand from one inch and a quarter 
to two inches, or more. 

An old elm-tree in this vicinity used to be a favorite plao 
of resort for the Tremex Cohtmba, or pigeon Tremex; an^ 
around it great numbers of the insects were often collected, , 
during the months of July and August, and the early part oft 
September. Six or more females might frequently be seen at 
once upon it, employed in boring into the trunk and laying 
their eggs, while swarms of the males hovered around them. . 
For fifteen years or more, some large button-wood trees, ini 
Cambridge, have been visited by them in the same way. The 
female, when about to lay her eggs, draws her borer out of its 
sheath, till it stands perpendicularly under the middle of her i 
body, when she plunges it, by repeated wriggling motions, 
through the bark into the wood. When the hole is made deep ) 
enough, she then drops an egg therein, conducting it to the 
place by means of the two furrowed pieces of the sheath. 
The borer often pierces the bark and wood to the depth of 
half an inch or more, and is sometimes driven in so tightly 
that the -insect cannot draw it out again, but remains fastened 
to the tree till she dies. The eggs are oblong oval, pointed at 
each end, and rather less than one twentieth of an inch in 






HYMENOPTERA. 427 

length. The larva, or grub, is yellowish white, of a cylindrical 
shape, rounded behind, with a conical, horny point on the 
upper part of the hinder extremity, and it grows to the length 
of about an inch and a half. It is often destroyed by the 
maggots of two kinds of ichneumon-flies [Pimpla atrata and 
lunator of Fabricius). These flies may frequently be seen 
thrusting their slender borers, measuring from three to four 
inches in length, into the trunks of trees inhabited by the 
grubs of the Tremex and by other wood-eating insects; and, 
like the female Tremex, they sometimes become fastened to 
the trees, and die without being able to draw their borers out 
again. 

Urocerus albicornis, of Fabricius, the white-horned Urocerus, 
has white antennae, longer and more tapering than those of the 
pigeon Tremex, and black at each end. The female is of a 
deep blue-black color, with an oval white spot behind each 
eye, and another on each side of the hinder part of the abdo- 
men. The horn on the tail is long, and shaped like the head 
of a lance. The wings are smoky brown, and semitransparent. 
The legs are black, with white joints. The body measures 
about an inch in length, and the wings expand nearly two 
inches. The male has a black head, with a white spot, on 
each side, behind the eyes. His thorax and legs are black. 
His abdomen is flattened, and rust-colored, and ends with a 
flattened horny point. He measures about an inch in length. 
This species, which is not common, has been found on pine- 
trees in July. 

Urocerus nitidus, the polished horn-tail, is an undescribed 
species, for which I am indebted to the Rev. L. W. Leonard. 
The male is not known to me. The female is of a deep blue 
color, downy on the head and thorax, smooth and highly pol- 
ished on the abdomen, the end of which is armed with a 
flattened horny point. Her wings are clear and perfectly 
transparent, with brownish veins, and have only a faint smoky 
tinge towards the tip. Her legs are ochre-yellow. The body 
of this insect measures rather more than three quarters of an 
inch, exclusive of the horn on the tail. This insect differs 
from the European Urocerus Juvencus in the much greater 



428 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

brilliancy of its color, and in having shorter antenncB. The 
borer of this and of the preceding species resembles, in form 
and structure, that of the pigeon Tremex, and is used in the 
same way. 

Urocerus abdominalis* the black and orange horn-tail, of 
Avhich only the male is known to me, has not been described 
before. It is black, with the four middle segments of the 
abdomen deep orange. There is a pale yeUow spot behind 
each eye; the front corners of the thorax are pale brownish 
yellow; and there are two minute yellowish scales on the back 
part of the thorax. The abdomen is flattened and widened 
behind, and ends with a flattened or triangular point. The 
antennfe are long and tapering, of a reddish brown color, with 
the two extremities black. The wings are transparent, with 
brown veins, and are a little smoky at the tips. The first four 
legs are ochre-yellow, with black thighs; and the hind legs are 
black, with yellow knees and feet. This insect varies in length 
from six tenths to more than three quarters of an inch. It is 
found in July, on the trunks of the white pine. 

Mr. Westwood has ascertained that the grubs of the insects 
belonging to the genus Xiphydria have the same form and 
habits as those of the horn-tailed wood-wasps. The name 
comes from a word signifying a small sword, in allusion to the 
borer of the female, which is shorter than in the preceding 
horn-tails. The winged insects have a rounded head, distant 
from the thorax, to the lower part of which it is joined by a 
slender conical neck. The body is nearly cylindrical, a little 
flattened, somewhat turned up behind, and ends with an ob- 
tuse point. The antennas are short, curved, and tapering at 
the end. i 

Xiphydria albicornis of my " Catalogue," or the white-horned 
Xiphydria, has white antennae with the two lowest joints black. 
The head is black, with a narrow white line around each of 
the eyes, forming a large oval, interrupted only in two places, 



* So named from the great contrast in the colors of the abdomen. In my 
" Catalogue" it stands under the genus Sirex of Linnaeus, which is the same as 
Urocerus of Geoffroy. 



HYMENOPTERA. 429 

on each side of the head. The body is black, with a spot on 
the front corners of the thorax, and six spots on each side of 
the abdomen, of a white color. The legs are reddish yellow 
or honey-yellow, with dusky feet. The wings are transparent, 
and have blackish veins. The body measures from six tenths 
to nearly three quarters of an inch in length. This insect is 
found on the trunks of trees of soft wood, in August. 

Xiphydria mellipes, of my " Catalogue," may be merely a 
variety of the preceding, from which it differs chiefly in having 
only four white spots on each side of the abdomen. It is four 
tenths of an inch long. I am indebted to the Rev. L. W. 
Leonard for specimens of these two species. 

The name of the genus Oryssns comes from a Greek word 
signifying to dig holes. The insects belonging to it differ 
considerably from the other UroceridcB, but, from what little is 
known respecting them, they appear to have the same habits. 
They have a cylindrical body, almost rounded behind, or bluntly 
pointed, and not distinctly horned. Their heads are large, and 
very rough on the front. Their antennas appear to come out 
of the mouth, being inserted close to it, under the outer angles 
of the visor; are rather short, curved, and thread-like; and are 
unequal in the number and size of the joints, in the two sexes. 
They have a short and thick neck. Their borer is very slen- 
der, is entirely concealed in a deep and narrow chink under 
the hinder part of the body, and is coiled up at its base, so 
that it can be darted out to some distance when extended. 
The fore legs of the females are very thick, and have only 
three joints to the feet; while the rest, as well as all of the feet 
of the male, are five-jointed. Their wings have but few veins 
and meshes in them. These insects are active, fly quickly, 
and love to alight and run about on the sunny side of the 
trunks of trees, wherein they are supposed to lay their eggs. 

For a long time, only two kinds of Oryssus were known to 
naturalists, and both of them were European insects. In the 
year 1833, three undescribed species were enumerated in my 
"Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts;" and these, in 
the second edition of the " Catalogue," which was published 
early in 1835, received the following descriptive names, by 



430 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

means whereof an entomologist would find little or no difficulty 
in recognizing them; namely, hcemorrhoidalis, the red-tailed, 
maurus, the dark-colored, and ojfinis, the allied, so called from 
its near resemblance to the preceding species. These singular 
insects were taken upon a willow-tree, by my friend, the Rev. 
L. W. Leonard, and were presented to me many years ago. 

The red-tailed Oryssus has been renamed and described, by 
Mr. Newman, in the October number of the fifth volume* of 
" The Entomological Magazine," published in London in 1838. 
It is his Oryssus terminalis. The female only is known to me. 
Her body is black, rough before, and smooth behind, with the 
last three segments of a blood-red color. The outer side of 
the fourth and fifth joints of her antennae, her knees, and a 
line on the outer edge of her shins, are white. Her feet are 
dull red. Her wings are clear and transparent, with a broad, 
smoky brown, transverse band, beyond the middle of the first 
pair. Her body measures nearly six tenths of an inch in length. 

The dark-colored Oryssus is probably the same as one de- 
scribed by Mr. Westwood, in 1835, in the fifth volume f of 
" The Zoological Journal," under the name of Oryssus Sayiu 
in honor of the late Mr. Say, who sent him the insect. It is 
of a deep black color, rough before and smooth behind, and is 
marked with white on the antennae and legs, like the red-tailed 
kind, with the addition of two short white lines on the fore- 
head, between the lower corners of the eyes. The feet are 
black. The wings have a smoky band beyond the middle, 
which, however, fades away towards the inner margin. I have 
seen only females of this species, and they measure from four 
to five tenths of an inch in length. 

It is possible that my Oryssus affinis, which is a male, may 
be the mate of the foregoing dark-colored species, from which 
it differs in having reddish feet, and in wanting the two white 
spots on the forehead. It measures four tenths of an inch in 
length. 

From this somewhat extended account, it is evident that we 
have very little power over the insects of the foregoing family. 

* Page 486. t Page 440. 



HYMENOPTERA. 431 

The most that we can do towards checking their ravages, will 
be to destroy the females, whenever they are found laying 
their eggs. 

The four-winged gall-flies have very little outward resem- 
blance to the saw-flies and horn-tailed wood-wasps. They 
agree with them, however, in boring into plants, and in laying 
their eggs therein. Vegetation does not often suffer much 
injury from their attacks, and it is only on account of the very 
singular productions, called galls, arising from the irritating 
punctures of these insects, that the attention of cultivators is 
at all likely to be drawn to them. There are some two-winged 
flies, and also some other insects, which produce various kinds 
of excrescences or galls on plants ; but these, now under con- 
sideration, are very small, four- winged insects, belonging to 
the order Hymenoptera, and distinguished by the following 
peculiarities. The head is small; the antennae are rather 
short, slender, and thread-like; and the thorax is thick and 
hunched. The abdomen or hind body, viewed sidewise, ap- 
pears round or oval, but it is sharp-edged above and below, 
very thin or pinched up at the sides, and is hung to the thorax 
by a very short and slender stem. The fore wings are rather 
long, and have only a few veins in them; the hind wings are 
small, and seemingly veinless. The borer of the females is 
very long, and slender, concealed in the under side of the hind 
body, the curvature whereof it follows, and is capable of being 
straightened and thrust out of a naiTOW chink, which is cov- 
ered by two little, grooved, sheath-like pieces, that serve to 
conduct the eggs into the holes made with the instrument. 
The genus containing most of the gall-flies was called, by 
Geoff i'oy, Diplolepis, that is, double scales, on account of the 
two pieces that cover the opening for the borer in the hinder 
part of the abdomen. The same insects, however, had pre- 
viously been placed by Linnaeus in the genus Cz/nips, so called 
from a word used by ancient authors to designate some small 
piercing insect. The Linnaean name, though for some time 
rejected, has been restored to the gall-flies, which accordingly 
are now included in a family called Cynipid^. The punctures, 
made by these insects in the leaves, buds, stems, and roots of 



432 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

plants, are followed by swellings of the wounded parts, which 
increase rapidly in size, and become spongy or pulpy within. 
The thin-skinned eggs, dropped into the punctures, grow 
awhile, by absorbing the sap around them, and, when at length 
they are hatched, the little grubs, proceeding therefrom, find 
themselves comfortably bedded within the pulpy tumors, and 
plentifully supplied with food on every side. They feed on 
the vegetable substance immediately around them, come to 
their growth in due time, cast their skins, and appear first in 
the chrysalis and then in the winged form, and finally gnaw 
their way through the hard shell of the galls, and come out 
into the open air. There are a few of the grubs, however, 
that leave the galls when fully grown, and finish their trans- 
formations in the ground. The grubs or young of the gall-flies 
are of a whitish color, and somewhat resemble maggots, but 
are shorter and thicker, and have a small, distinct head. They 
are without proper legs, and move only by means of the swollen 
edges of their rings, with the aid, it is said, of certain little 
contractile warts, on their bodies, that serve them instead of 
feet. There are almost as many kinds of galls as there are 
species of gall-flies; and each species confines its attacks to 
some one sort of plant, and to some particular part thereof. 
It is wonderful that there should be such a diversity in the 
forms and texture of the galls of insects so nearly resembling 
each other in form and structure; and, on the other hand, that 
each species of gall-fly should invariably produce galls of the 
same kind. Many galls are very irregular and uneven, others 
are round and resemble fruits; some are smooth, others are 
beset with prickles, or covered with a woolly substance ; some 
hang by little stems, others are perfectly flat, and adhere closely 
to the surface of leaves. At first they are soft or spongy within, 
but, after some time, they become hard and almost or quite 
woody. The eggs of some gall-flies do not hatch tiU the galls 
begin to grow hard on the outside; this is the reason why we 
do not find any insects within certain kinds of galls, so long 
as they remain soft and unripe. The round and hard Aleppo 
galls, or nutgalls of commerce, used in the making of ink, in 
coloring, and in medicine, are caused by the punctures of the 



HYMENOPTERA. 433 

Cynips g-allce tinctoria;, on a kind of oak, growing in the west- 
ern part of Asia; and the insect may often be found in those 
which are not pierced with holes. Some galls contain only a 
single insect, lodged in a little cavity in the centre ; other kinds 
are inhabited by several grubs, each in a cell by itself, and the 
cells notunfrequently resemble numerous small seeds, clustered 
together in the middle of a fruit. Two or three different kinds 
of insects are often found to come from one gall, namely, a 
few gall-flies, which are the lawful proprietors thereof, and 
more numerous four-winged flies (CnALciDiD.iE), Math elbowed 
antenna. The latter are bred from grubs, which devour the 
grubs of some of the gall-flies, or starve them by eating up 
their food, and thereby contribiitc to check the too great in- 
crease of the gall-flies. 

The largest galls found in this country are commonly called 
oak-apples. They grow on the leaves of the red oak, are round 
and smooth, and measure from an inch and a half to two 
inches in diameter. This kind of gall is green and somewhat 
pulpy at first, but, when ripe, it consists of a thin and brittle 
shell, of a dirty drab color, enclosing a quantity of brown 
spongy matter, in the middle of which is a woody kernel about 
as big as a pea. A single grub lives in the kernel, becomes a 
chrysalis in the autumn, when the oak-apple falls from the 
tree, changes to a fly in the spring, and makes its escape out 
of a small round hole which it gnaws through the kernel and 
shell. This is probably the usual course, but I have known 
this gall-fly to come out in October. The name of this insect 
is Cynips conjiuens* Its head and thorax are black, and are 
rough with numerous little pits and short hairs; the hind body 
is smooth, and of a shining pitch color ; the legs are dull 
brownish red; and the fore wings have a brown spot near the 
middle of the outer edge. Its body is nearly one quarter of 
an inch long, and its wings expand five eighths of an inch. 

A dwarf oak ( Quercus infectoria), growing on the borders 
of the Dead Sea, produces galls somewhat like the foregoing, 
which have been supposed to be the apples of Sodom, described 

* Diplolepis conjluentus of my '• Catalogue," and so named by Mr. Say. 

55 



434 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

by ancient waiters as fruits fair to the view, but crumbling 
into dust when handled. A late writer,* however, has shown 
that these tempting and deceptive productions are the real 
fruits of a tree, the Asclepias jirocera, resembling our common 
silk-weed in its botanical characters. 

Clusters of three or four round and smooth galls are often 
seen on the small twigs of the white oak. They are nearly 
as large as bullets, of a greenish color on one side, and red on 
the other. They approach in hardness to the Aleppo galls, 
and perhaps might be put to the same use. Each one is the 
nest of a single insect, which turns to a fly and eats its way 
out, in June and July, having passed the winter as a chrysalis, 
w^ithin the gall, lodged in a dg,y-colored egg-shaped case, about 
three twentieths of an inch long, and with a brittle shell. 
These little cases appear to be cocoons, but are not made of 
silk or fibrous matter. Similar cocoons are found within many 
other galls, and I have some which were discovered under 
stones, and were not contained in galls, but produced gall-flies, 
the insects having left their galls to finish their transformations 
in the ground. The gall-fly of the white oak varies in color. 
Sometimes it closely resembles the gall-fly of our oak-apple, 
differing from it only in size, and in wanting the brownish 
spot and dark-colored veins on the fore wings ; and sometimes 
it is of a dull brownish yellow color, with a brown spot on the 
back. It is three twentieths of an inch long, and its wings 
expand three tenths of an inch. It is the Diplolepis, or more 
properly Ci/nips, oneratus of my " Catalogue." 

Galls of the size and color of grapes are found on the leaves 
of some oaks. Each one contains a grub, which finishes its 
transformations in June. The winged insect is my Cynips 
nubilipennis, or cloudy-winged Cynips, so named from the 
smoky cloud on the tips of its wings. Excepting in this re- 
spect, it closely resembles the dark-colored variety of Cynips 
oneratus^ and very little exceeds it in size. 

One of our smallest gall-flies may be called Cynips seminator, 
or the sower. She lays a great number of eggs in a ring-like 

* Robinson's " Biblical Researches in Palestine," Vol. II., p. 235. 



HYMENOPTERA. 435 

cluster around the small twigs of the white oak, and her punc- 
tures are followed by the growth of a rough or shaggy reddish 
gall, as large sometimes as a walnut. When this is ripe, it is 
like brittle sponge in texture, and contains numerous little 
seed-like bodies, adhering by one end around the sides of the 
central twig. These seeming seeds have a thin and tough 
hull, of a yellowish white color; they are egg-shaped, pointed 
at one end, and are nearly one eighth of an inch long. The 
gall-insects live singly, and undergo their transformations, 
within these seeds; after which, in order to come out, they 
gnaw a small hole in the hull, and then easily work their way 
through the spongy ball wherein they are lodged. They are 
less than one tenth of an inch Ipiig, arc almost black, or of the 
color of pitch, highly polished, especially on the abdomen, and 
their mouth, antenna;, and legs are cinnamon-colored. 

It has been observed that no tree in Europe yields so many 
different kinds of galls as the oak. Those which I have de- 
scribed are not all that are found on oaks in this country, and 
they seem to be sufficiently distinct from the galls of European 
oaks. 

Round, prickly galls, of a reddish color, and rather larger 
than a pea, may often be seen on rose-bushes. Each of them 
contains a single grub, and this in due time turns to a gall-fly, 
which may be called Cynips bicolor, the two-colored Cynips. 
Its head and thorax are black, and rough with numerous little 
pits ; its hind body is polished, and, with the legs, of a brown- 
ish red color. It is a large insect compared with the size of 
its gall, measuring nearly one fifth of an inch in length, while 
the diameter of its gall, not including the prickles, rarely ex- 
ceeds three tenths of an inch. 

Cynips dichloccrus, or the gall-fly with two-colored antennae, 
is of a brownish red or cinnamon color, with four little longi- 
tudinal grooves on the top of the thorax, the lower part of the 
antennas red, and the remainder black. It varies in being 
darker sometimes, and measures from one eighth to three six- 
teenths of an inch in length. Great numbers of these gall-flies 
are bred in the irregular woody galls, or long excrescences, of 
the stems of rose-bushes. 



436 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The small roots of rose-bushes, and of other plants of the 
same family, sometimes produce rounded, warty, and woody 
knobs, inhabited by numerous gall-insects, which, in coming 
out, pierce them with small holes on all sides. The winged 
insects closely resemble the dark varieties of the preceding 
species, in color, and in the little furrows on the thorax ; but 
their legs are rather paler, and they do not measure more than 
one tenth of an inch in length. This species has been named 
Cynips semipiceus. 

Monstrous swellings of buds, and various other kinds of 
excrescences, may often be seen on plants ; but my specimens 
of the insects producing them are not in a condition to be 
described. The foregoing account, however, will serve to 
illustrate the habits of some of our most common gall-flies, 
and explain the origin, forms, and structure of their singular 
productions. Such excrescences, as soon as they are observed 
on plants of any value, should immediately be cut off, and 
put into the fire. 

Gall-insects, as already stated, are often destroyed by little 
parasites belonging to the family Chalcidid^e ; and as these 
are liable to be mistaken for the former, especially when coming 
from the same gall,* it may be well to point out the difference 
between them. The four-winged gall-flies have rather long, 
straight, threadlike, and ascending antennae; the fore wings 
with a few veins, forming two triangular meshes, one of which 
is very small, and situated near the middle of the wing, the 
other mesh much larger, and near the base ; the hind body 
roundish but laterally compressed; and the piercer spiral or 
curved, and concealed. The Chalcidians have shorter, elbowed, 
and drooping antennae, which are enlarged towards the end; 
a single vein, running from the shoulder near the outer margin 
of the fore wijig, uniting with this margin near its middle, and 
emitting thence, towards the disk of the wing, a short oblique 
branch, which is enlarged or forked at the end ; the hind body 
generally oval, pointed at the end in the females, and provided 
in this sex with a straight piercer, which is more or less visible 
beneath, and prominent at the extremity. By means of their 
piercers, the Chalcidians thrust their eggs into the galls made 



HYMENOPTERA. 437 

by various kinds of gall-insects, and the maggots, hatched 
from these eggs, devour the young of the gall-flies. Nor do 
they destroy these alone; they prey upon many other larvae, 
especially caterpillars, and also on pupa? or chrysalids. Some 
of them are egg-parasites, puncturing the eggs of other insects, 
and depositing therein their own tiny eggs. They are the 
minute ichneumons {Ichneunumes mimiti) of Linnaeus, and, 
like the true ichneumon-flies, they are eminently useful in 
checking the increase of the noxious tribes. Such being the 
known habits and services of the greater part of the Chalcid- 
ians, it may seem singular that any doubt should exist in 
regard to others of them. There are, however, some kinds 
which have been thought to produce galls themselves, instead 
of being the parasites of gall-insects; certain species wearing 
indeed the form of a Chalcidian, but appearing to have the 
habits of a Cynips. These species belong to the genus Eury- 
toma, which, though agreeing in structure with the Chalcidians, 
Professor Nees von Esenbeck was inclined to place among the 
Cynipid.e, because he took them to be gall-makers. Mr. West- 
wood* controverts this opinion; and Dr. Ratzeburgf considers 
it as founded upon error. It may nevertheless be correct, if 
there be no mistake in the result of observations made upon 
the insects, called barley-straw insects and joint-worms, that 
produce gall-like swellings upon the stems of barley and of 
wheat in this country. 

In the years 1829 and 1830 several communications w^ere 
published in the eighth volume of Fessenden's " New England 
Farmer," \ respecting a disease of barley-straw, produced by 
the punctures of insects. The first account of this disease 
that has fallen under my notice, is contained in an extract 
from a letter, dated August 16th, 1829, from the Honorable 
John Merrill, of Newburyport, to Mr. Fessenden ; wherein it 
is stated, that the barley, in the neighborhood of Newburyport, 
yielded only a very small crop ; on some farms not much more 

* "Modern Classification of Insects," Vol. II., p. 161, note. 

t " Die Ichncumonen der Forstinsecten." I., p. 172. 
• + rages 43, 138, 217, 299, 330, and 402. Also Vol. IX., p. 2., and Vol. X., 
p. 11. 



438 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

than the seed sown. Most of the stalks were found to have a 
number of small worms within them, near to the second joint, 
and had become hardened in the part attacked, from the in- 
terruption of the circulation of the sap. During several years 
previous to this date, the barley crops, in various parts of 
Essex and Middlesex counties, were more or less injured in 
the same way; and, in some places, the cultivation of this 
grain was given up in consequence thereof. It was supposed 
that the insects, producing this disease, were imported from 
Bremen, or some other port in the north of Europe, in some 
barley that was sown in the vicinity of Newbury, three or 
four years before 1829.* The worms or maggots were found, 
by John M. Gourgas, Esq., of Weston, Massachusetts, to be 
transformed to small flics, "about the make and size of a 
small black ant, with wings," which were thought, by some 
persons, to be the same as the Hessian flies. In the summer 
of 1831, myriads of these flies were found alive in straw beds 
in Gloucester; the straw having been taken from the fields 
the year before. An opinion at that time prevailed, that the 
troublesome humors, wherewith many persons were then 
afflicted, were occasioned by the bites of these flies ; and it is 
stated that the straw beds in Lexington, being found to be 
infested with the same insects, were generally burnt.f Mi*. 
Gourgas observes, J that when the barley is about eight or ten 
inches high, the effects of the disease in it begin to be visible 
by a sudden check in the growth of the plants, and the yellow 
color of their lower leaves. If the butts of the straw are now 
examined, they will be found to be irregv^larly swollen, and 
discolored, between the second and third joints, and, instead 
of being hollow, are rendered solid, hard, and brittle, so that 
the stem above the diseased part is impoverished, and seldom 
produces any grain. Suckers, however, shoot out below, and 
afterwards yield a partial crop, seldom exceeding one half the 
usual quantity of grain. Dr. Andrew Nichols, of Danvers, 



* "New England Parmer," Vol. VIII., p. 217. 
t "New England Farmer," Vol. X., p. 11. 
+ "New England Farmer," Vol. VIII., p. 299. 



HYMENOPTERA. 439 

states,* that the worms are about one tenth of an inch in 
length, and of a yellow or straw color; and that, in the month 
of November, they appeared to have passed to the chrysalis 
state. They live through the winter unchanged in the straw, 
many of them in the stubble in the field, while others are 
carried away when the grain is harvested. When the barley 
is threshed, numerous small pieces of diseased straw, too hard 
to be broken by the flail, will be found among the grain. Some 
of these may be separated by the winnowing machine, but 
many others are too large and heavy to be winnowed out, and 
remain with the grain, from which they can only be removed 
by the slow process of picking them out by hand. 

In the winter of 1829, Cheever Newhall, Esq., furnished me 
with a few pieces of diseased barley-straw, each of which 
contained several small whitish maggots. Since that time 
this affection of the barley has only once fallen under my no- 
tice, though I have reason to think that it continues to prevail 
in many parts of Massachusetts. Each maggot was imbedded 
in the thickened and solid substance of the stem, in a little 
longitudinal hollow, of the shape of its own body; and its 
presence was known by an oblong swelling upon the surface. 
In some pieces of straw the swellings were so numerous as 
greatly to disfigure the stem, the circulation in which must 
have been very much checked if not destroyed. Early in the 
following spring these maggots entered the pupa or chrysalis 
state, and on the fifteenth of June the perfected insects began 
to make their escape through minute perforations in the straw, 
which they gnawed for this purpose. Seven of these little 
holes were counted in a piece of straw only half an inch in 
length. The insects continued to release themselves from their 
confinement till the fifth of July, after which no more were 
seen. Much to my surprise they proved to be minute, four- 
winged flies, belonging to the genus Eurytoma. Supposing 
these insects to be parasites, in accordance with the known 
habits of others of the same family, I described them as such, 
under the name of Eurytoma Hordei (so called from Hordeum, 

* •' New England Farmer," Vol. VIII., p. 138. 



440 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the Latin for barley), in the " New England Farmer," for July 
23, 1830,* and in the first edition of this work. It Avas then 
my belief that the true culprits, or original cause of the disease, 
w^ould prove to be some species of Cecidomyia, allied to but 
distinct from the Hessian fly; and that they, while in the larva 
or pupa state, had been preyed upon and destroyed by the 
Eurytoma. The larvae of the Hessian fly are often destroyed 
by a somewhat similar Chalcidian parasite, great numbers of 
which have been observed, in their winged form, in Vv^heat- 
fiekls, and have then been mistaken for Hessian flies. The 
body of the Eurytoma Hordei is jet black, and slightly hairy. 
The head and thorax are opaque, and rough with dilated 
punctures. The hind body is smooth and polished. The 
thighs, shanks, and claw-joints are blackish; the knees, and 
the other joints of the feet are pale honey-yellow. The females 
are twelve or thirteen hundreths of an inch long. The males 
are rather smaller, and are distinguished from the females by 
the following characters. They have no piercer. The joints 
of their antennae are longer, and are surrounded with whorls 
of little hairs. The hind body is shorter, less pointed behind, 
and is connected with the thorax by a longer stem or peduncle. 
These insects are very active, and move by little leaps; but 
the hindmost thighs are not thickened. About eight years 
ago, some of these insects, that had come from a straw bed in 
Cambridge, were shewn to me. They had proved very trouble- 
some to children sleeping on the bed; their bites or stings 
being followed by considerable inflammation and irritation, 
which lasted several days. So numerous were the insects 
that it was found necessary to empty the bed-tick and burn 
the straw. Since that time, I have heard nothing more either 
of the insects or of the disease of barley-straw in this part of 
the country. 

My attention was again called to the history of the barley- 
straw insect by an article on the joint-worm, published at 
Albany in " The Cultivator," for October, 1851. The account 
given in this magazine, by Mr. Rives, of the ravages of the 

* Vol. IX., p. 2. 



HYMENOPTERA. 441 

joint-worm in the wheat-fields of Virginia, and the remarks 
by Dr. Fitch on the pecuHar affection of the wheat-straw pro- 
duced by this worm, led me to suspect that the disease was 
identical with that which had been observed in barley-straw, 
and that it originated from the same cause. In the article 
above named, Dr. Fitch appears to have come to the conclu- 
sion that the disease was produced by some species of Ceci- 
domyia. He found the disease of the wheat-straw to be situ- 
ated immediately above the lower joint, in the sheathing 
base of the leaf, the substance of which, for a distance ex- 
ceeding half an inch, was much swollen, and was changed 
to a more solid and wood-like texture, while the surface ex- 
hibited several long pale spots, slightly elevated like a blister. 
The hollow of the stem was entirely obliterated, at some 
parts, by the pressure of the enlarged portion of the sheath, 
and was hardly visible at others. Each of the blistered spots 
covered an elongated cavity, containing a footless worm or 
maggot, about ten hundredths of an inch long, of an oval 
form, rather more tapering posteriorly than towards the head, 
and divided by slight constrictions into thirteen segments. 
The worm was soft, shining, of a uniform milk-white color, 
with a small Y shaped brown line marking the situation of 
the mouth. " So exactly," remarks Dr. Fitch, "does this worm 
in its form and appearance resemble the larvae of the Hessian 
fly and other species of Cecidomyia which have fallen under 
my examination, that I entertain no doubt it pertains to the 
same genus of insects," 

On the 16th of March, 1852, F. G. Rufl:in, Esq., of Shad- 
well, Virginia, the editor of " The Southern Planter," sent to 
me that paper for July, 1851, containing some account of the 
joint-worm, and with it a few samples of diseased wheat-straw. 
A much larger quantity of the straw, soon afterwards received 
from him, was divided into two unequal portions, the larger 
of which was sent to Dr. Fitch, in the hope that between us 
something definite concerning the origin of the disease might 
be obtained. Upon examining my samples, I found that the 
disease was not invariably confined to the sheathing base of 
the leaf, but that, in many cases, it was seated in the joint 
56 



442 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

itself, the whole substance of which became enlarged and 
distorted. In a smaller number of cases, it was found to 
occupy the culm or stem, above the joint, which was swollen 
so as to form an irregular gall-like tumor, while the leaf-sheath 
remained unaffected. These woody tumors had several little 
cells in them, varying in number from six to ten or more; and 
every cell contained an insect, in the pupa or chrysalis state. 
The samples of straw reserved for myself were put into a 
small glass jar to secure the insects when they had completed 
their transformations. Early in May, winged insects began 
to perforate the tumors and come forth, and they continued to 
issue during ten days or more. Their appearance was probably 
hastened by the jar being kept in the house instead of being 
exposed to the air abroad. These insects so nearly resemble 
in form, size, and color, the Eim/toma formerly obtained from 
the barley-straw, that I am persuaded they are, at least, mere 
varieties of the same species, if not absolutely identical. The 
only apparent difference between them consists in the color of 
the fore shanks; these, in the wheat-insects, being pale yellow, 
and faintly tinged with black only on the outer edges, in a 
few individuals. Among fifteen specimens only one male was 
found, and this did not appear till the month of June. Dr. 
Fitch obtained from his samples of straw above one hundred 
specimens of the same kind of Enri/toma, and all of them 
females. Among them he found another Chalcidian insect, a 
species of Pleromalus, probably a parasite of the Eurytoma, 
and has favored me with a description of it. The head and 
thorax are of a dark metallic green color; the abdomen is 
slightly depressed, polished, purplish black above, bright cop- 
per-colored beneath. The antennoB are black, except the basal 
joint, which is of a brilliant copper-color. The thighs are pale 
yellow; the shanks and feet blackish, the hind pair with a 
broad pale ring around the bottom of the shank and the con- 
tiguous part of the foot. The length of the body is ten 
hundredths of an inch, being somewhat less than that of the 
Eurytoma. From my samples of the straw I have obtained 
another and a different parasite, belonging to the same family, 
but to the genus Torymns. The specimen is a female, and. 



HYMENOPTERA. 443 

like others of the same genus, it is provided with an exserted 
slender piercer, nearly as long as its own body. The latter is 
about as long as that of the Pleromahis above described, and 
is of a deep black color, slightly tinged with green on the face 
and thorax, both of which are rough and opaque, while the 
hind body is smooth and polished. The fore wings have an 
elongated cloudy spot near the middle, and the oblique branch 
is very short. The thighs, claws, and the antennae except the 
basal joint, are blackish, the other parts of the legs and the 
base of the antenna3 are pale yellow. The hindmost thighs 
are much thicker than the others, and are notched beneath the 
end. The eyes have a dull reddish tinge, perhaps not their 
true color in life. Professor Cabell has sent to me some speci- 
mens of this Tori/mus, including a male, which differs from the 
female in having all the joints of the antennse black. 

The ravages of the joint-worm in the wheat-fields of Vir- 
ginia are said to have been first observed in Albemarle county, 
about four or five years ago. They have alarmingly increased 
from year to year, and have extended over many parts of the 
adjacent counties, becoming more aggravated each time that 
they are renewed in the same place. The loss occasioned 
thereby often amounts to one third of the average crop, and 
is sometimes much greater; and during the present season, 
"some farmers did not reap as much as they sowed." These 
statements are made chiefly on the authority of Professor J. 
L. Cabell, of the University of Virginia, who has given some 
attention to the natural history of the joint-w^orm, and has 
recently communicated to me the result of his interesting 
observations. He has come to the conclusion that the joint- 
worm is the larva of a Hymenopterous and not of a Dipterous 
insect. He finds that the parts of its mouth are very different 
from those of the dormant larva of the Hessian fly (the latter 
extracted from its flax-seed case before it had undergone any 
change of form), and that the mouth of the former agrees 
essentially with that of the larvte obtained from galls of the 
oak. In the mouth of the joint-worm he observed that "the 
mandibular hooks cross each other on the middle line," while 
in the Hessian fly larva the "two hooks are directed down- 



444 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

wards." His samples of diseased wheat-straw of the previous 
year yielded him, in the spring, numerous specimens of the 
Eurytoma^ and nothing else. A few specimens of the same 
insect were developed from the tumors on plants of the present 
season, thus showing that "a small proportion of the larvae 
undergo their transformations during the summer." Among 
his specimens he obtained a very few Hymenopterous insects, 
differing from the Eurytoma, and probably parasites. In sev- 
eral instances Professor Cabell saw a small semitransparent 
whitish worm, scantily covered with hairs, in the same cell 
with a lifeless joint-worm, and adhering to its body. In other 
cases, the former kind of worm or larva "was found alone, but 
it was then of a larger size, and there were almost always 
some more or less unequivocal signs of the worm having fed 
on the joint-worm." 

Having been favored by Professor Cabell with some sam- 
ples of wheat-straw, containing living joint-worms, I have been 
able to verify his observations during the present summer, 
while this sheet is passing through the press. At my request, 
Professor Jeffries Wyman, of Harvard College, an accomplished 
anatomist, and a skilful microscopical observer, has examined 
these larvce, and also some of the parasitical worms, found in 
the straw, and lias made for me several magnified sketches of 
them. Both kinds are found to differ essentially from the 
larvae of the locust and of the willow gaU-flies, with living 
specimens of which I have compared them. Their bodies are 
softer, and their skins more delicate and tender; and the form 
of the head and structure of the mouth are entirely unlike 
those of the Cecidomyian larvae. The true joint-worm varies 
from one tenth to nearly three twentieths of an inch in length. 
It is of a pale yellowish white color, with an internal dusky 
streak, and is destitute of hairs. The head is round, and 
partially retractile. The jaws are lateral and hooked; they 
meet at the points, and are of a blackish color, and apparently 
of a horny texture ; and they are distinctly to be seen even 
with a pocket microscope. It is evident, therefore, that these 
joint- worms are not the larvae of any Dipterous insect; they 
are doubtless Hymenopterous larvae, and probably, from their 



HYMENOPTERA. 445 

abundance, those of the foregoing Eurytoma. The other larvae, 
few in number compared with the joint-worms, are distin- 
guished therefrom by their inferior size, and whiter color, and 
by being sparingly covered with short hairs. Their heads are 
round, are provided with blackish hooked jaws, and have two 
little tubercles on the front. I judge them to be the young of 
one of the parasites, probably of the Torymus, described on a 
former page. 

The foregoing account might be thought to afford conclu- 
sive evidence that the Eurytoma alone was the author of the 
mischief done to the wheat and barley, and that it is not a 
parasitical insect. In favor of this conclusion, we have the 
fact that hitherto no person has succeeded in obtaining from 
the diseased wheat-straw so much as a single specimen of 
Ceddomyia; while both the wheat and the barley straw have 
yielded to several observers, in repeated instances, numerous 
specimens of the same kind of Eurytoma., and nothing else, 
saving an extremely small number of lesser parasites. The 
determination of this difficult and interesting question is of 
much importance in a scientific and an economical point of 
view. The great amount of property that is at stake, and the 
serious losses already sustained by the ravages of the joint- 
worm, render it necessary to ascertain the true history of the 
insect before proceeding to take measures for the protection of 
our crops. We are to consider, in destroying the Eurytoma, 
whether we shall kill an enemy or a friend. If it be a para- 
site, as the almost universal opinion of entomologists would 
lead us to believe, it would be the height of folly to attempt 
to interfere with its operations. On the other hand, if we can 
show it to be a plant-eating insect, we may use such means 
as are in our power towards checking its career, not only with 
perfect safety, but with eminent advantage. In this case, in 
dealing with the joint-worm, we need not be restrained by the 
consideration that the diseased straw contains also some truly 
parasitical larvse ; for these, as already stated, are very few in 
number compared with the immense swarms of the Eurytoma 
that are annually produced. If we can succeed in extermi- 
nating these destroyers, we shall have no occasion for the 
services of the parasites. 



446 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Admitting the Eurytoma to be the sole cause of the mischief, 
the following suggestions will be found useful in arresting its 
ravages. As the disease is seated mostly near the base of the 
straw, in or near the second or the third joint, the greater part 
of the diseased portions will be left in the stubble when the 
grain is reaped. Most of tiie insects remain unchanged in the 
stubble till the following year. If, then, we can destroy the 
maggots in the stubble before they have acquired wings and 
made their escape, we shall, in great measure, restrain their fur- 
ther propagation and increase; for it is in the winged state 
alone that insects propagate their kind. It has been found in 
Massachusetts that ploughing in the stubble has little or no 
effect upon the insects, which continue alive and uninjured 
under the slight covering of earth, and easily make their way to 
the surface when they have completed their transformations. 
The only practicable method of destroying the insects is to burn 
the stubble containing them. All the straw and refuse, which 
is unfit for fodder, should likewise be consumed, because it will 
be found occasionally to contain a small amount of diseased 
portions of the straw. Some of these may remain among the 
grain itself, being too heavy to be separated by the process of 
winnowing. These will have to be picked out by hand. 
Moreover, as some few of the insects are transformed to flies 
during the first summer, and these will suffice to continue the 
race, it becomes important that all the means above recom- 
mended should be continued during several successive years; 
and when these are universally, carefully, and thoroughly put 
in practice, they can hardly fail to exterminate the Eurytoma. 
A free use of manure and thorough tillage, by promoting a 
rapid and vigorous growth of the plant, may render it less 
liable to suffer from the attacks of the insect. Large fields, 
well seeded, will probably escape better than those that are 
smaller and thinner sown, in which the insects, when about to 
lay their eggs, can penetrate easily and to a greater distance. 



DIPTERA. 447 



DIPTERA. 

Gnats and Flies. — Maogots, and their Transfobmations. — Gall-Gnats. 
Hessian Fly. Wheat-Fly. — Remarks upon and Descriptions of some 
OTHER Dipterous Insects. — Radish-Fly. — Two-winged Gall-Flies, and 
Fruit-Flies. — Conclusion. 

Under the name of Diptera, signifying two-winged, are 
included all the insects that have only two wings, and are 
provided with two little knobbed threads in the place of hind 
wings, and a month formed for sucking or lapping. 

Various kinds of gnats and of flies are therefore the insects 
belonging to this order. The proboscis or sucker, wherewith 
they take their food, is placed under the head, and sometimes 
can be drawn up and concealed, partly or wholly, within the 
cavity of the mouth. It consists of a long gutter, usually 
ending with two fleshy lips, and enclosing, in the channel on 
its upper side, several fine bristles, from two to six in number, 
which are sometimes as sharp as needles, and are then capable 
of inflicting severe punctures. These piercing bristles really 
take the place of the jaws of biting insects, and hence the 
wounds made therewith, by gnats and mosquitos, are very 
properly called bites. The saliva of these insects flowing into 
the wounds, renders them more painful, and is the cause of 
the inflammation and itching that follow. The grooved sheath 
of the proboscis is usually very large and fleshy in the flies 
that only lap or sip their food. Two small, jointed feelers are 
commonly found attached to the base of the proboscis. Gnats 
and flies have softer bodies than most other winged insects. 
The head is large, and fastened to the thorax by a very slender 
neck. The eyes, especially in the males, are large, and occupy 
the whole of the sides of the head. The antennae, in gnats 
and mosquitos, are rather long, slender, and many-jointed; in 
flies, they are short, consisting of only two or three thick 
joints, the last of which often bears a little bristle or dehcate 



448 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

feather. The wings are filmy, like those of Hymenopterous 
insects, but usually have a greater number of veins in them. 
Just behind the wing-joints there are two little, convex scales, 
which open and shut with the motion of the wings; they are 
called the winglets. The two balancers or poisers are short 
threads, knobbed at the end, and placed on each side of the 
hindmost part of the thorax, immediately behind the winglets. 
The thorax is often the thickest and hardest part of the body ; 
to it the hind body is more or less closely united, and the lat- 
ter, in many females, ends with a tapering, retractile tube, 
wherewith the eggs are deposited. The legs are six in num- 
ber, and each of the feet is provided with two claws, and two 
or three little cushions or skinny palms, by the help whereof 
the insects can walk on the smoothest surfaces, and on the 
ceilings of rooms, with the back downwards, as easily as when 
upright; for the palms act like suckers, and thus prevent them 
from falling. 

Mosquitos and gnats are active both by day and night, but. 
flies take wing only during the day. The life of these insects, 
even from the time when they are first hatched, is generally 
very short, seldom lasting more than a few weeks; but of 
some kinds several broods are produced in the course of a 
single summer, and often in the greatest profusion. In certain 
countries and seasons they multiply so fast, and appear in 
such immense swarms, as to become a serious annoyance 
both to man and beast. 

The young insects, hatched from the eggs of gnats and of 
flies, are fleshy larvs, usually of a whitish color, and without 
legs. They are commonly called maggots, and sometimes are 
mistaken for worms. They vary a good deal in their forms, 
structure, habits, and transformations, so that it is somewhat 
difficult to give any general description of them. Their 
breathing holes are usually situated near the extremities of the 
body. Aquatic maggots often have a tubular tail, through 
which they breathe, and the orifice of this tube is sometimes 
surrounded with beautiful feather-formed appendages. The 
larvsB or maggots of the gnats, and of nearly all those flies 
which have four or six bristles in the proboscis, have a distinct 



DIPTERA. 449 

head covered with a horny shell. Larvis of this kind, when 
fully grown, cast off their skins to become pupae or chrysaiids. 
These pupae are usually of a brown color, and somewhat 
resemble the chrysaiids of certain moths, or more nearly those 
of Hymenopterous insects; for their short and imperfect legs 
and wings, though folded on the breast, are not immovably 
fastened to it. They commonly have several small thorns on 
each end of the body, and a row of smaller prickles across 
each of the rings of the back. By the help of these thorns 
and prickles they work their way out of the places wherein 
they had previously lived, just before they burst open their 
pupa-skins to come forth in the perfected or winged state. 
The pupffi of mosquitos are not prickly, but they possess the 
power of swimming or tumbling about in the water, by the 
help of two little fins on their tails.* The larvae of the Dipte- 
rous insects in general do not make cocoons; those of some 
gnats (Mi/cetopkilce), which live in tree mushrooms, or boleti, 
not only cover themselves with a silken web, under which they 
live, but also spin cocoons, wherein they undergo their trans- 
formations. Some of the Cecidomyians also make silken 
cocoons. The larvae of the other flies are not so variable in 
their forms as the foregoing. They are commonly plump, 
whitish maggots, obtuse behind, and tapering before, with a 
small and soft head, that can be drawn within the fore part of 
the body. They take their food almost entirely by suction, for 
their jaws are merely two little hooks, that enable them to fasten 
themselves upon the substances which serve for their nourish- 
ment. They increase rapidly in size, and when they are fully 
grown, they change their forms, without casting off" their skins 
at all, merely by the gradual shortening of their bodies, which 
take an oblong oval shape, and turn hard and brown on the 
outside. The hardened skin of the larva thus becomes a shell 
or kind of cocoon, within which the insect is afterwards changed 
to a pupa, having its imperfect limbs folded on its breast, and 
from which, in due time, it comes forth in the form of a fly, 
by forcing off" one end of the shell.f 

* See pages 4 and 5. t See page 5. 

67 



450 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The far-famed Hessian fly and the wheat-fly of Europe, and 
of this country, are small gnats or midges, and belong to the 
family called Cecidomyiad.e, or gall-gnats. The insects of 
this family are very numerous, and most of them, in the mag- 
got state, live in galls or unnatural enlargements of the stems, 
leaves, and buds of plants, caused by the punctures of the 
winged insects in laying their eggs, or by the irritation of the 
maggots hatched therefrom. The Hessian fly, wheat-fly, and 
some others, differ from the majority in not producing such 
alterations in plants. The proboscis of these insects is very 
short, and does not contain the piercing bristles found in the 
long proboscis of the biting gnats and mosquitos. Their an- 
tennae are long, composed of many little, bead-like joints, which 
are more distant in the males than in the other sex; and each 
joint is surrounded with short hairs. Their eyes are kidneys- 
shaped. Their legs are rather long and very slender. Their 
wings have only two, three, or four veins in them, and are 
fringed with little hairs around the edges; when not in use, 
they are generally carried flat on the back. The hind body of 
the females often ends w^ith a retractile, conical tube, where- 
with they deposit their eggs. Their young are little, footless 
maggots, tapering at each end, and generally of a deep yellow 
or orange color. They live on the juices of plants, and un- 
dergo their transformations either in these plants, or in the 
ground. 

The transformations of these insects offer some peculiarities 
that do not seem to have been described by European natu- 
ralists, and probably are not well understood by them. Three 
modifications in the process have been observed in this coun- 
try, and examples of these are afforded by Cecidomyia Salicis, 
destructor, and Tritici. In all of them the pupa has the limbs 
and wings free or unconfined, and becomes active shortly 
before its final change, being enabled to crawl out of the place 
where it had hitherto lodged, when about to take the winged 
form. It appears also that these Cecidomyians retain the 
larva-skin when the insect is changed to a pupa; this skin 
undergoing only certain alterations in the course of the pro- 
cess, without being thrown off". The abdominal part of the 



DIPTERA. 451 

larva-skin remains with little or no change ; the fore part of 
the body becomes swollen, shining, and apparently gelatinous, 
and allows the budding limbs and wings of the pupa to push 
outwards, each carrying with it an enveloping portion of the 
skin, which by extension or growth, or by both, is modified so 
as to suit the changed condition of the insect. This peculi- 
arity was first made known to me by a letter from Dr. Asa 
Fitch, of Salem, New York, who has paid much attention to 
the natural history of the Cecidomyians, and has published 
several elaborate essays upon them in " The American Quar- 
terly Journal of Agriculture and Science," and in " The Tran- 
sactions of the New York State Agricultural Society." In 
these essays, however, the point under consideration is not so 
distinctly stated and described as in his letter. I am also in- 
debted to him for galls, containing larvae of the willow gall-fly. 
These, with specimens of the Hessian fly in the flax-seed state, 
received from him and from other correspondents, have enabled 
me to verify the result of his observations. 

The willow gall-gnat, or gall-fly, is one of the largest of our 
species. It has been described and figured by Dr. Fitch, under 
the name of Cecidomyia Salicis* On account of the size of 
the larva and the ease with which it may be raised, it is an 
excellent object for the observation of the transformation that 
is peculiar to it and to other species of the genus. It inhabits 
a small woody gall, growing at the ends of the slender twigs 
of the American basket-wiUow (Salix rigida), and other dwarf 
willows. This kind of gall is of an oval shape, about three 
quarters of an inch long, by three eighths of an inch thick, 
and is terminated by a brittle conical beak, which seems to me 
to consist of the unexpanded and dry terminal bud of the twig. 
Upon being cut open in the winter or spring, a longitudinal 
channel will be found in the middle, extending from the apex 
of the beak nearly to the base of the gall, and lined in the 
upper part with a delicate silken web. Within this hollow is 
lodged a single orange-colored maggot, about one fifth of an 
inch long. In the spring this maggot takes the pupa form, 

* " American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science," Vol. I., p. 263. 



452 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

the approaching change being marked by an alteration of the 
color of the anterior segments, which from orange become red, 
shining, and swollen, as if distended with blood. Within a 
few hours after this change of color, rudimentary legs, wings, 
and antennae, begin, as it were, to bud and put forth, and 
rapidly grow to their full pupal dimensions; and thus the 
transformation to the pupa is effected without any moulting 
of the skin of the larva. In a few days, the pupa works its 
way upwards, bursts through the silken film, and rests half 
way out of the orifice of the beaked summit of the gall, where 
it casts off and leaves its pupa-skin, and appears in its winged 
form. This little gnat or fly is of a deep black color above, 
paler and downy beneath, with livid legs and smoky wings. 
The length of its body is a little over one fifth of an inch, and 
its wings expand rather more than three tenths of an inch. 

The Cecidomyia Robinia, of Professor Haldeman,* is a much 
smaller and more common species, inhabiting the locust-tree. 
During the month of August, some of the leaves of this tree 
will be found to have one edge thickened in substance and 
rolled over, so as to form an oblong cavity, cylindrical in the 
middle, and tapering at each end. This is the work of the 
larvfE or young Cecidomyians, two or three of which will 
sometimes be found in each cavity, where also they complete 
their transformations. The larva is a maggot of a whitish 
color, faintly tinged with orange, particularly towards the head. 
The pupa or chrysalis is not contained within a cocoon. The 
fly measures three twentieths of an inch in length. It is orange 
colored, with dusky antennae and wings, three dusky lines on 
the thorax, and two dusky spots on the sides of the body. An 
apparent interruption in one of the veins of the wings, noticed 
by Professor Haldeman, is not peculiar to this insect, but may 
be seen, more or less distinctly, in our other species of Ceci- 
domyia. 

The Hessian fly was scientifically described by Mr. Say, in 
1817, under the name of Cecidomyia destructor.^ It obtained 

* "American Journal of Agriculture and Science," Vol. VI., p. 193. 
t "Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia." Vol. I., 
p. 45. 



DIPTERA. 453 

its common name from a supposition that it was brought to 
this country, in some straw, by the Hessian troops under the 
command of Sir William Howe in the war of the Revolution.* 
This supposition, however, has been thought to be erroneous, 
because the early enquiries made to discover the Hessian fly 
in Germany were unsuccessful ; and, in consequence thereof, 
Sir Joseph Banks, in his rejiort to the British Government, in 
1789, stated that "no such insect could be found to exist in 
Germany or any other part of Europe." f It ap[)ears, how- 
ever, that the same insect, or one exactly like it in habits, had 
been long known in the vicinity of Geneva; an account of it 
may be found in Duhamel's " Practical Treatise of Husband- 
ry,"! and in a communication! made to the Duke of Dorset, 
in 1788, by the Royal Society of Agriculture of France. In 
the year 1833 the wheat in Austria and in Hungary was con- 
siderably injured by an insect of the same kind, supposed to 
be the Hessian fly by the Baron Kollar.§ Moreover, Mr. E. 
C. Herrick, of New Haven, Connecticut, has published an 
account || of the discovery of the true Hessian fly, by Mr. 
James D. Dana, in Minorca, near Toulon in France, and in 
the vicinity of Naples, in the year 1834. Nothing has yet 
been found relative to the existence of the Hessian fly in 
America before the Revolution. It was first observed in the 
year 1776, in the neighborhood of Sir William Howe's debark- 
ation on Staten Island, and at Flat Bush, on the w^est end of 
Long Island. Having multiplied in these places, the insects 
gradually spread over the southern parts of New York and 
Connecticut, and continued to proceed inland at the rate of 
fifteen or twenty miles a year. They reached Saratoga, two 
hundred miles from their original station, in 1789. Dr. Chap- 
man says, that they were found west of the Alleghany moun- 



* Dobson's " Encyclopaedia." Yol. VIII., p. 491. 

t " EncyclopBcdia Britannlca," and Dobson's "Encyclopajdia." Vol. VIII. , 
article Hessian Fly. 

X p. 90. 4to. Lond. 1759. See also his " Elements of Agriculture," Vol. 
I., p. 269. 8vo. Lond. 1664. 

§ "Treatise," pp. 118, 119. 

II Silliman's "American Journal of Science," Vol. XLI., p. 153. 



454 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

tains in 1797; from their progress through the country, having 
apparently advanced about thirty miles every summer. Wheat, 
rye, barley, and even timothy grass, were attacked by them; 
and so great were their ravages in the larva state, that the 
cultivation of wheat was abandoned in many places where 
they had established themselves.* In a communication by 
Mr. J. W. Jeffreys, published in the sixth volume of Buel's 
" Cultivator," it is stated, that soon after the battle of Guilford, 
in North Carolina, the wheat crops were destroyed by the 
Hessian fly in Orange county, through which the British 
army, composed in part of Hessian soldiers, had previously 
passed. Although it is possible that, in this instance, the 
chinch bug may have been mistaken for the Hessian fly, the 
remark shows how prevalent was the belief respecting the 
introduction of the latter. The foregoing statements, taken 
in connexion with the habits of the Hessian fly, induce me to 
think that the common opinion relative to its origin is deserv- 
ing of some credit. 

The head, antenna?, and thorax of this fly are black. The 
hind body is tawny, more or less widely marked with black on 
each ring, and clothed with fine grayish hairs. The egg-tube 
of the female is rose-colored. The wings are blackish, except 
at the base, where they are tawny and very narrow; they are 
fringed with short hairs, and are rounded at the tip. The legs 
are pale red or brownish, and the feet are black. The body 
measures about one tenth of an inch in length, and the wings 
expand one quarter of an inch, or more. After death, the hind 
body contracts and becomes almost entirely black. The Hes- 
sian fly is a true Cecidomyia, differing from Lasioptera in the 
shortness of the first joint of its feet, and in the greater length 
of its antennae, the bead-like swellings whereof are also more 
distant from each other, especially in the males. According 
to Mr. Herrick, the number of the joints of the antennae varies 
"from fourteen to seventeen, besides the basal joint, which 
appears double." As in other species of Cecidomyia, the form 



* " Encyclopsedia Britannica," and Dobson's " Encyclopaedia," Vol. VIII., 
article Hessian Fly. 



DIPTERA. 455 

of the joints differs according to the sex; those of the male 
being globular, and those of the female, except at base, oblong 
oval. In both they are surrounded with whorls of short hairs. 
The difference in the antennae of the sexes has been pretty 
well represented by Mr. Lesueur, in the plate designed to 
accompany Mr. Say's description of the insect. 

The following brief history of the habits and transforma- 
tions of the Hessian fly will be found to agree essentially with 
the excellent observations on this insect, written in the year 
1797, by Dr. Isaac Chapman, and published in the fifth volume 
of the " Memoirs of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting 
Agriculture," and with the more full and equally valuable 
history of the insect, by Jonathan N. Havens, Esq., contained 
in the •first volume of the " Transactions of the Society for 
the Promotion of Agriculture, &c., in New York." Mr. Iler- 
rick has kindly permitted me to make free use of his valuable 
account of this insect, contained in the forty-first volume of 
" The American Journal of Science," and of other information 
communicated by him to me in various letters. He has spent 
some time in carefully observing the habits of the fly, during 
many years in succession, after having fitted himself for the 
task by the study of the natural history of insects in general. 
His statements therefore may be relied upon, as in the main 
correct. Moreover, they are corroborated by the observations 
of many other persons, published in various works, which have 
been consulted in the course of my investigations. 

Of this insect, two broods or generations are brought to 
maturity in the course of a year, and the flies appear in the 
spring and autumn, but rather earlier in the Southern and 
Middle States than in New England. The transformations 
of some in each brood appear to be retarded beyond the usual 
time, as is found to be the case with many other insects; so 
that the life of these individuals, from the egg to the winged 
state, extends to a year or more in length, whereby the contin- 
uation of the species in after years is made more sure. It has 
frequently been asserted that the flies lay their eggs on the 
grain in the ear; but whether this be true or not, it is certain 
that they do lay their eggs on the young plants, and long 



456 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

before the grain is ripe ; for many persons have witnessed and 
testified to this fact. In the New England States, winter 
wheat, as it is called, is usually sown about the first of Sep- 
tember. Towards the end of this month, and in October, 
when the grain has sprouted, and begins to show a leaf or 
two, the flies appear in the fields, and, having paired, begin to 
lay their eggs, in which business they are occupied for several 
weeks. The following interesting account of the manner in 
which this is done was written by Mr. Edward Tilghman, of 
Queen Ann county, Maryland, and was published in the eighth 
volume of « The Cultivator," in May, 1841. " By the second 
week of October, the first sown wheat being well up, and 
having generally put forth its second and third blades, I re- 
sorted to my field in a fine warm forenoon, to endeavor to 
satisfy myself, by ocular demonstration', whether the fly did 
deposit the egg on the blades of the growing plant. Selecting 
a favorable spot to make my observation, I placed myself in a 
reclining position in a furrow, and had been on the watch but 
a minute or two, before I discovered a number of small black 
flies alighting and sitting on the wheat plants around me, and 
presently one settled on the ridged surface of a blade of a 
plant completely within my reach and distinct observation. 
She immediately began depositing her eggs in the longitudinal 
cavity between the little ridges of the blade. I could distinctly 
see the eggs ejected from a kind of tube or sting. After she 
had deposited eight or ten eggs, I easily caught her upon the 
blade, and wrapped her up in a piece of paper. I then pro- 
ceeded to take up the plant, with as much as I conveniently 
could of the circumjacent earth, and wrapped it all securely 
in a piece of paper. After that I continued my observations 
on the flies, caught several similarly occupied, and could see 
the eggs uniformly placed in the longitudinal cavities of the 
blades of the wheat; their appearance being that of minute 
reddish specks. My own mind being thus completely and 
fully satisfied as to the mode in which the egg was deposited, 
I proceeded directly to my dwelling, and put the plant with 
the eggs upon it in a large glass tumbler, adding a little water 
to the earth, and secured the vessel by covering it with paper, 



DIPTERA. 457 

SO that no insect could get access to the interior. The paper 
was sufficiently perforated with pin holes for the admission of 
air. The tumbler with its contents was daily watched by 
myself to discover the hatching of the eggs. About the mid- 
dle of the fifteenth day from the deposit of the eggs, I was so 
fortunate as to discover a very small maggot or worm, of a 
reddish cast, making its way with considerable activity down 
the blade, and saw it till it disappeared between the blade and 
stem of the plant. This, I have no doubt, was the produce of 
one of the eggs, and would, I presume, have hatched much 
sooner, had the plant remained in the field. It was my inten- 
tion to have carried on the experiment, by endeavoring to 
hatch out the insect from the flax-seed state into the perfect 
fly again; but being called from home, the plant was suffered 
to perish. The fly that I caught on the blade of the wheat, 
as above stated, I enclosed in a letter to Mr. John S. Skinner, 
the editor of ' The American Farmer,' of Baltimore, who pro- 
nounced it to be a genuine Hessian fly, and identical in ap- 
pearance with others recently received from Virginia." Dr. 
Chapman agrees with this writer in saying, that the Hessian 
fly lays her eggs in the small creases of the young leaves of 
the wheat. Mr. Havens states, that the fly lays her eggs on 
the leaves. In the fortieth number of " The Connecticut Far- 
mer's Gazette," Mr. Herrick says, "I have repeatedly, both 
in autumn and in spring, seen the Hessian fly in the act of 
depositing eggs on wheat, and have always found, that she 
selects for this purpose the leaves of the young plant. The 
eggs are laid in various numbers on the upper surface of the 
strap-shaped portion (or blade) of the leaf." His remarks in 
Professor Silliman's Journal are to the same effect. Other 
authorities on this point might be mentioned; but the fore- 
going are sufficient, in my opinion, to establish the fact, that 
the Hessian fly lays her eggs on the leaves of wheat soon after 
the plants are up. " The number on a single leaf," says Mr. 
Herrick, "is often twenty or thirty, and sometimes much 
greater. In these cases many of the larvae must perish. The 
egg is about a fiftieth of an inch long, and four thousandths 
of an inch in diameter, cylindrical, translucent, and of a pale 
58 



458 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

red color." Mi-. Tilghman was correct in supposing that the 
eggs would hatch in less than fifteen days, under favorable 
circumstances ; for, if the weather be warm, they commonly 
hatch in four days after they are laid. 

The maggots, when they first come out of the shells, are of 
a pale red color. Forthwith they crawl down the leaf, and 
work their way between it and the main stalk, passing down- 
wards till they come to a joint, just above which they remain, 
a little below the surface of the ground, with the head towards 
the root of the plant. Having thus fixed themselves upon the 
stalk, they become stationary, and never move from the place 
till their transformations are completed. They do not eat the 
stalk, neither do they penetrate within it, as some persons 
have supposed, but they lie lengthwise upon its surface, cov- 
ered by the lower part of the leaves, and are nourished wholly 
by the sap, which they appear to take by suction. They soon 
lose their reddish color, turn pale, and will be found to be 
clouded with whitish spots; and through their transparent 
skins a greenish stripe may be seen in the middle of their 
bodies. As they increase in size, and grow plump and firm, 
they become imbedded in the side of the stem, by the pressure 
of their bodies upon the growing plant. One maggot thus 
placed seldom destroys the plant; but, when two or three are 
fixed in this manner around the stem, they weaken and im- 
poverish the plant, and cause it to fall down, or to wither and 
die. They usually come to their full size in five or six weeks, 
and then measure about three twentieths of an inch in length. 
Their skin now gradually hardens, becomes brownish, and 
soon changes to a bright chestnut color. This change usually 
happens about the first of December. 

The insect, in this form, has been commonly likened to a 
flax-seed. Hence "many observers speak of this as the flax- 
seed state." Others regard it as the beginning of the pupa 
state, wherein the condition of the insect is analogous to the 
immature pupa [boule allong'ic) of common flies. Such in- 
deed has been my own impression concerning it ; and even so 
it seems to have been regarded by Mr. Herrick, although he 
was well aware of the actual form of the insect included 



DIPTERA. 459 

within this "leathery" outer skin of the larva, and of all its 
subsequent changes. While this change of the color and 
texture of the skin is going on, the body of the insect, as re- 
marked by Mr. Herrick, "gradually cleaves from the dried skin, 
and, in the course of two or three weeks, is wholly detached." 
In a letter, dated February 21, 1843, he alludes more explicitly 
to the condition of the insect, in these words. " In two or 
three weeks after this change of color, the animal within be- 
comes entirely detached from the old larva-skin, and lies a 
motionless gruby Accordingly, when this dried skin or flax- 
seed case is opened, the insect will be found loose within it, 
and still retaining the maggot form, as stated by Mr. Herrick, 
Mr. Worth,* and Professor Cabell.f Kollar alludes to the 
unchanged condition of the insect within this case, in the 
European specimens which he had examined. :|: Mr. West- 
wood makes the following remarks upon some from Vienna 
that were in his possession. " The insects are enclosed in a 
leathery case, and on opening them I discovered the larvas 
shrivelled up and dead." § Referring to Mr. Say's account of 
the Hessian fly, and its flax-seed case, Mr. Westwood says, 
" it is not described in what manner this case is formed." That 
it really consists of the loosened outer skin of the maggot is 
evident from its shape and structure. It has nearly the same 
form and size, is convex on both sides, and retains traces of 
the former segments in the transverse lines wherewith it is 
marked. This flax-seed shell has been correctly called a jnipa- 
rium or pupa-case, because the pupa is subsequently matured 
within it. Dr. Chapman repeatedly alludes to the pupa, or 
chrysalis as he calls it, and to "the outward coat" of the larva 
"becoming a hard shell or covering for the chrysalis;" by 

* Mr. James Worth, writing on this insect in 1820, remarked that "as soon 
as it changes to the flax-seed color, by rolling it lightly with the finger, the tegu- 
ment can be taken ofT; the icorm will then appear with a greenish stripe through 
it, which is evidently the substance extracted from the plant." (" American 
Farmer," Vol. II., p. 180.) 

t See page 443. 

% KoUar's "Treatise," page 121. 

§ Note in Kollar's " Treatise," p. 121. See also Westwood's " Modern Clas- 
sification of Insects," Vol. II., p. 520. 



460 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

which we perceive that he was acquainted with the origin and 
office of the one and the condition of the other. But as the 
true figure of the included insect is concealed, and cannot be 
determined without opening the puparium, "it is customary," 
as stated by Messrs. Kirby and Spence,* "in speaking of pupsB 
of this description, to refer solely to the exterior covering." 
Agreeably to this common usage, sanctioned by the best ento- 
mologists of our time, the flax-seed case, or puparium, has 
been commonly denominated the pupa, even by such writers 
as Mr. Say, to whom the real nature of its contents must 
have been well known. 

In the letter before mentioned, Mr. Herrick thus continued 
his account of the transformations of the insect. " The pro- 
cess of growth goes on, and, by and by, on opening the leathery 
maggot-skin, now a puparium, you find the pupa so far ad- 
vanced that some of the members of the future fly are discern- 
ible through the scarf which envelopes and fetters it on all 
sides." In his observations communicated to the Commis- 
sioner of Patents in 1844,f he referred to the same process in 
the following words. " Within this shell (the flax-seed case) 
the pupa gradually advances towards the winged state; it 
contracts in length but not in breadth ; and its skin appears 
covered with minute elevations. Just before evolution (of the 
fly), we find the pupa invested in a delicate membrane or 
scarf, which not long previous was its outer skin, through 
which many parts of the future fly may be distinctly seen." 
From the foregoing passages, it appears that the transition 
of the insect, within the flax-seed case, from the form of a 
larva or maggot to that of a mature pupa, takes place only 
a short time before its final transformation to a fly, that is, 
towards the end of April or beginning of May; and that the 
scarf or proper skin of this pupa is the same as that wherein 
the body of the insect had been previously enveloped. In this 
respect, the Hessian fly agrees in its transformations with the 
willow gall-fly; and doubtless the transition in question is 
effected in the same way as in that insect. But the larva of 

* "Introduction to Entomology," Vol. III., p. 258. f Report, p. 163. 



DIPTERA. 461 

the Hessian fly does not spin a silken web or cocoon like that 
of the willow gall-fly and some other Cecidomyians; and it 
differs from these insects also in being finally invested with 
two skins, the outer one, when detached, serving instead of a 
cocoon for the included insect; while the inner one, of a much 
thinner and more delicate texture, becomes the true skin of the 
matured pupa. 

Towards the end of April and in the fore part of May, or 
as soon as the weather becomes warm enough in the spring, 
the insects are transformed to flies. They make their escape 
from their winter quarters by breaking through one end of 
their shells and the remains of the leaves around them. In 
the " Observations on the Hessian Fly," written by Jonathan 
N. Havens, Esq., it is stated, that "whenever the fly has ^een 
hatched in the house, it always comes forth from its brown 
case wrapt in a thin white skin, which it soon breaks, and is 
then at liberty;" and Mr. Havens supposes, that the same 
thing occurs when the transformation takes place abroad. Mr. 
Herrick states, that this skin or "scarf," as he calls it, "splits 
on the thorax or back," and the fly is disengaged from it by 
working through the rent. This process, and the appearance 
of the insect through the pupa-skin, is fully described in his 
letter of the 21st of February, 1843, from which the following 
extract is taken. It is from a memorandum made May 12, 
1837. " On looking over culms of wheat, which ripened last 
July, I found a puparium of the Hessian fly; began to cut it 
open ; found within a fly nearly matured. Opened only the 
anterior part of the puparium; but the animal soon squirmed 
itself out, enveloped in a thin scarf. The puparium was left 
entirely clean. — The animal worked its abdomen back and 
forth, and, in about twenty minutes, was detached from the 
scarf." In one instance, Mr. Herrick found the empty scarf- 
skin "attached to one end of the puparium." Ordinarily, 
however, the insect seems to crawl entirely out of the pupa- 
rium or flax-seed shell, before disengaging itself from the pupa 
skin, as stated above by Mr. Havens. Upon examining a 
puparium after the escape of the insect, I could not discover 
any vestige of larva or pupa skin within it. It was left en- 
tirely empty. 



462 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Veiy soon after the flies come forth in the spring, they are 
prepared to lay their eggs on the leaves of the wheat sown in 
the autumn before, and also on the spring-sown wheat, that 
begins, at this time, to appear above the surface of the grovind. 
They continue to come forth and lay their eggs for the space 
of three weeks, after which they entirely disappear from the 
fields. The maggots, hatched from these eggs, pass along the 
stems of the wheat, nearly to the roots, become stationary, 
and take the flax-seed form in June and July. In this state 
they are found at the time of harvest; and, when the grain is 
gathered, they remain in the stubble in the fields. To this, 
however, as Mr. Havens remarks, there are some exceptions; 
for a few of the insects do not pass so far down the side of 
the §tems as to be out of the way of the sickle when the grain 
is reaped, and consequently will be gathered and carried away 
with the straw. Most of them are transformed to flies in the 
autumn, but others remain unchanged in the stubble or straw 
till the next spring. Hereby, says Mr. Havens, "it appears 
evident, that they may be removed from their natural situation 
in the field, and be kept alive long enough to be carried across 
the Atlantic; from which circumstance it is possible that they 
might have been imported" in straw from a foreign country. 
In the winged state, these flies, or more properly gnats, are 
very active, and, though very small and seemingly feeble, are 
able to fly to a considerable distance in search of fields of 
young grain. Their principal migrations take place in August 
and September in the Middle States, where they undergo 
their final transformations earlier than in Nev/ England. 
There, too, they sometimes take wing in immense swarms, 
and, being probably aided by the wind, are not stopped in 
their course either by mountains or rivers. On their first ap- 
pearance in Pennsylvania they were seen to pass the Delaware 
like a cloud. Being attracted by light, they have been known, 
during the wheat harvest, to enter houses in the evening in 
such numbers as seriously to annoy the inhabitants.* 



* British and Dobson's •'EncyclopscJia," and Colonel Morgan's letter in 
Carey's "American Museum," Vol. II., P- 298. 



DIPTERA. 463 

Mr. Havens has alluded to "an opinion, entertained by 
many observers, that there are three generations of this insect 
in a year," "two" being completed "before harvest." This 
opinion was revived, in 1821, by Mr. James Worth, of Sharon, 
Pennsylvania.* According to him, the second brood of flies, 
which appears early in June, had been altogether overlooked, 
or confounded with the spring brood. Their " eggs were lain 
on the upper leaves of the weakest or stunted wheat, and the 
larvre became lodged about the two upper joints, but most 
about the upper." Being very numerous, and crowded to- 
gether, many of the larvse perished for want of food, and 
many also were destroyed by parasites. Enough, however, 
remained alive to continue the race ; and the flies were evolved 
from them at iiTegular intervals, and continued laying from 
the fifteenth of August till October, when the earliest of their 
progeny entered on the fly state; thus making, during the 
year, as remarked by Mr. Worth, "three complete broods, and 
partially a fourth." Mr. Say, though he does not appear to 
have been fully acquainted with the history of the insect, has 
recorded the occurrence of the fly in June. His remarks are 
these: "The perfect fly appears early in June, lives but a 
short time, deposits its eggs and dies; the insects from these 
eggs complete the history by preparing for the winter brood." 
In the year 1833, Mr. Herrick saw a Hessian fly laying eggs 
on the third of June, another on the fifth, and a third on the 
seventh of the same month. The fact of the occasional ap- 
pearance of the flies as late as the 12th of June, when Mr. 
Worth found the insects in all their stages, seems to be well 
established; while it is equally certain that ordinarily only two 
broods are brought to perfection in the course of one year. 
Various circumstances may contribute to accelerate or to 
retard a portion of each brood; and, hence, some of the flies 
may be found from the middle of April to the middle of June, 
and others from the beginning of August till December. 
These circumstances have been so fully considered by Mr. 
Havens, that it is unnecessary to repeat them here. The 

* See " American Farmer," Vol. III., p. 188. 



464 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

observations of Mr. Worth are interesting as showing that the 
insect is not left without resources, although there are no young 
wheat-plants growing in June; the upper joints of those old 
plants, that are late in ripening, being found to yield sufficient 
nourishment for a portion, at least, of the progeny of the June 
flies. They show, also, how easily the insects might be im- 
ported from Europe in the straw containing them, in the flax- 
seed state, about the upper joints. 

The old discussion, concerning the place where the Hessian 
fly lays her eggs, was revived in the year 1841, in consequence 
of a communication made by Miss IVIargaretta H. Morris, of 
Germantown, Pennsylvania, to " The American Philosophical 
Society," of Philadelphia. The following remarks upon it are 
extracted from a Report made to the same Society, and pub- 
lished in their " Proceedings " for November and December, 
1840. " Miss Morris believes she has established that the 
ovum (egg) of this destructive insect is deposited in the seed 
of the wheat, and not in the stalk or culm. She has watched 
the progress of the animal since June, 1836, and has satisfied 
herself that she has frequently seen the larva within the seed. 
She has also detected the larva, at various stages of its pro- 
gress, from the seed to between the body of the stalk and the 
sheath of the leaves. According to her observations, the 
recently hatched larva penetrates to the centre of the straw, 
where it may be found of a pale greenish white semitrans- 
parent appearance, in form somewhat resembling a silk worm. 
From one to six of these have been found at various heights 
from the seed to the third joint." Miss Morris's communica- 
tion had not been published in full when the first edition of 
this work was prepared for the press ; but, from the foregoing 
Report, we are led to infer, that the egg, being sowed with the 
grain, is hatched in the ground, and that the maggot after- 
wards mounts from the seed through the middle of the stem, 
and, having reached a proper height, escapes from the hollow 
of the straw to the outside, where it takes the pupa or flax- 
seed state. The fact that the Hessian fly does ordinarily lay 
her eggs on the young leaves of wheat, barley, and rye, both 
in the spring and in the autumn, is too well authenticated to 



DIPTERA. 465 

admit of any doubt. If, therefore, the observations of Miss 
Morris are found to be equally correct, they will serve to show, 
still more than the foregoing history, how variable and extra- 
ordinary is the economy of this insect, and how great are the 
resources wherewith it is provided for the continuation of its 
kind. 

The foregoing remarks were written in 1841. Since that 
time, the communication, to which they refer, has been printed,* 
and this has been followed by the publication of several other 
articles,* on the same subject, by Miss Morris. This ingenious 
and persevering lady has also favored me with letters concern- 
ing her investigations, and with some of the flies. The latter 
were sent, as she says, " to convince me, at least, that she had 
not mistaken a curculio, moth, or bee for a Cecidomyia." Miss 
Morris has come to the conclusion that this insect is a dif- 
ferent species from the Hessian fly, for which it had previously 
been mistaken, and has given to it the name of Cecidomyia cul- 
micola. According to her, the fly "deposits its eggs early in 
June on the grain, in or over the germ. The eggs remain 
unhatched until the grain germinates, but when the plant has 
grown about three or four inches, the worm may be seen, with 
the aid of a strong magnifying glass, feeding above the top 
joint, in the centre of the culm, where it remains until it ar- 
rives at maturity. Should this occur before the culm has 
become hard, the worm eats its way through the joint, inside 
of the straw, and makes its escape at the root, ascends the 
straw on the outside, where it attaches itself firmly, and awaits 
its change; the outer skin becomes the puparium. In the 
pupa or flax-seed state, it closely resembles the C. destructor. 
Should the culm of the wheat become prematurely hard before 
the worm has finished feeding, as is often the case, the insect 
will remain imprisoned for life, passing through its changes 
inside the straw, and there perish without the power to escape, 
unless some accidental passage be made for it. I have lib- 



* " Transactions of the American Philosophical Society," Philadelphia, New 
Series. Vol. VIII., p. 48. — '• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences," 
Philadelphia. Vol. I., p. 66 ; Vol. III., p. 238 ; and Vol. IV., p. 194. 
59 



466 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

erated," she adds, " hundreds with my penknife, and thousands 
make then* escape after the grain has been reaped and carried 
into the barn. When the insect is thus unnaturally retarded, 
the time of its perfect development is uncertain ;" and she has 
"found them on the straw, and in spiders' webs, from June 
until September." Four of the specimens sent to me by Miss 
Morris were males. Another subsequently received was a 
female. The former were not more than half the size of the 
latter, and indeed were smaller even than the wheat-fly, which 
they seemed somewhat to resemble. The female was evi- 
dently much darker colored originally than the males. These 
insects were genuine specimens of Cecidomyia, and apparently 
of a different species from the Hessian fly. The condition of 
the specimens, which had suffered by compression and by being 
badly preserved, was such that an accurate comparison and 
description of them could not be made. I understand that 
the species has disappeared from Germantown and the vicinity, 
and hence no opportunity for obtaining living or recent speci- 
mens has occurred since the year 1843. 

Various means have been recommended for preventing or 
lessening the ravages of the Hessian fly; but they have hith- 
erto failed, either because they have not been adapted to the 
end in view, or because they have not been universally adopted; 
and it appears doubtful, whether any of them will ever entirely 
exterminate the insect. It is stated in the before mentioned 
Report of " The Philosophical Society," that Miss Morris ad- 
vises obtaining "fresh seed from localities in which the fly has 
not made its appearance," and that "by this means the crop 
of the following year will be uninjured; but in order to avoid 
the introduction of straggling insects of the kind from adja- 
cent fields, it is requisite that a whole neighborhood should 
persevere in this precaution for two or more years in succes- 
sion." "This result," Miss Morris says, "was obtained, in 
part, in the course of trials made by Mr. Kirk, of Buck's 
county, Pennsylvania, with some seed-wheat from the Medi- 
terranean, in and since the year 1837. His first crop was free 
from the fly; but it was gradually introduced from adjacent 
fields, and, in the present year (1840), the mischief has been 



DIPTERA. 467 

considerable." In other hands this course has proved of no 
use whatever. Not to mention other instances, the following 
appears to be conclusive on this point. About fifty years 
ago, ]VIr. Garret Bergen, of Brooklyn, New York, procured two 
bushels of wheat from the Genesee country, then an unin- 
fected district, which he sowed in. a field adjoining a piece 
seeded with grain of his own gathering. Both pieces were 
severely damaged by the Hessian fly, which could not have 
happened, in the same season, if the eggs of the insect are 
laid only on the grain. A few years ago he soaked his seed- 
wheat in strong pickle, and the crop was comparatively free 
from the fly. In 1839 he tried this experiment again, but not 
with similar success. In 1840 he sowed without previously 
soaking the grain, and his crop was uninjured. He says, 
moreover, that he has uniformly found the grain most affected 
in spots, usually near the edges of the field, where long grass 
and weeds grew, which afforded shelter and protection to the 
fly. This fact, he thinks, affords another proof that the egg is 
not deposited in the grain. I regret that my limits will not 
permit me to extract the whole of Mr. Bergen's interesting 
remarks, which may be found in number eight, of the eighth 
volume of " The Cultivator," published in Albany in August, 
1841. The best modes of preventing the ravages of the Hes- 
sian fly are thus stated by Mr. Herrick.* " The stouter varie- 
ties of wheat ought always to be chosen, and the land should 
be kept in good condition. If fall wheat is sown late, some 
of the eggs will be avoided, but the risk of winter-killing the 
plants will be incurred. If cattle are permitted to graze the 
wheat-fields during the fall, they will devour many of the eggs. 
A large number of the pupae may be destroyed by burning 
the wheat-stubble immediately after harvest, and then plough- 
ing and harrowing the land. This method will undoubtedly 
do much good. As the Hessian fly also lays its eggs, to some 
extent, on rye and barley, these crops should be treated in a 
similar manner." On mature reflection, I am confident that 
burning the stubble, as originally recommended by Mr. Havens, 

* "American Journal of Science," Vol. XLI., p. 158. 



468 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

and advised by Mr. Herrick, is the very best method of getting 
rid of the Hessian fly. It is true that by so doing, many of 
the numerous parasites of the insect will also be destroyed. 
But this need not give us any concern ; for if we can succeed 
in putting a stop to the ravages of the Hessian fly, by these 
or any other means, we shall not have occasion to mourn the 
loss of the parasites. It is found that luxuriant crops more 
often escape injury than those that are thin and light. Steep- 
ing the grain and rolling it in plaster or lime tend to promote 
a rapid and vigorous growth, and will therefore prove bene- 
ficial. Sowing the fields with wood ashes, in the proportion of 
two bushels to an acre, in the autumn, and again in the first 
and last weeks in April, and as late in the month of May as 
the sower can pass over the wheat without injury to it, has 
been found useful.* Favorable reports have been made upon 
the practice of allowing sheep to feed off" the crop late in the 
autumn, and it has also been recommended to turn them into 
the fields again in the spring, in order to retard the growth of 
the plant till after the fly has disappeared-! Too much can- 
not be said in favor of a judicious management of the soil, 
feeding oft' the crop by cattle in the autumn, and burning the 
stubble after harvest; a proper and general attention to which 
will materially lessen the evils arising from the depredations 
of this noxious insect. 

Fortunately our efforts will be aided by a host of parasitical 
insects, which are found to prey upon the eggs, the larvae, and 
the pupae of the Hessian fly. Mr. Herrick states, $ that, in 
this part of the country, a very large proportion, probably 
more than nine tenths, of every generation of this fly is thus 
destroyed. One of these parasites was made known by Mr. 
Say, in the first volume of the "Journal of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia;" and the interesting dis- 
covery of three more kinds is due to the exertions of Mr. 
Herrick. They are all minute Hymenopterous insects, similar 



* "Cultivator," Vol. V., p. 59. 

t " Cultivator," Vol. IV., p. 110, and Vol. V., p. 49. 

X "American Journal of Science," Vol. XLI., p. 156. 



DIPTERA. 469 

in their habits to the true Ichneumon-flies. The chief parasite 
of the pupa is the Ceraphron destructor* of Say, a shining 
black four-winged fly, about one tenth of an inch in length. 
This has often been mistaken for the Hessian fly, from being 
seen in wheat-fields, in vast numbers, and from its being found 
to come out of the dried larva-skin of that fly. In the month 
of June, when the maggot of the Hessian fly has taken the 
form of a flax-seed, the Ceraphron pierces it, through the 
sheath of the leaf, and lays an egg in the minute hole thus 
made. From this egg is hatched a little maggot, which de- 
vours the pupa of the Hessian fly, and then changes to a 
chrysalis within the shell of the latter, through wliich it finally 
eats its way, after being transformed to a fly. This last change 
takes place both in the autumn and in the following spring. 
Some of the females of this or of a closely allied species 
come forth from the shells of the Hessian fly, without wings, 
or with only very short and imperfect wings, in which form 
they somewhat resemble minute ants. Two more parasites, 
which Mr. Herrick has not yet described, also destroy the 
Hessian fly, while the latter is in the flax-seed or pupa state. 
Mr. Herrick says, that the egg-parasite of the Hessian fly is a 
species of Platygaster, that it is very abundant in the autumn, 
when it lays its own eggs, four or five together, in a single egg 
of the Hessian fly. This, it appears, does not prevent the 
latter from hatching, but the maggot of the Hessian fly is 
unable to go through its transformations, and dies after taking 
the flax-seed form. Meanwhile its intestine foes are hatched, 
come to their growth, spin themselves little brownish cocoons 
within the skin of their victim, and, in due time, are changed 
to winged insects, and eat their way out. Such are some of 
the natural means, provided by a benevolent Providence, to 
check the ravages of the destructive Hessian fly. If we are 



* It is evident, from Mr. Say's description, and from Mr. Lesueur's figures, 
that this insect is not a Ceraphron. Neither does it belong to the genus Eury- 
toma, to which I formerly referred it. It certainly comes very near to rteromalus, 
as suggested by Mr. Westwood ; but I apprehend that it should be placed in the 
genus Rhaphitelus of Walker, or Storthygocerus of Ratzeburg. 



470 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

humiliated by the reflection, that the Author of the universe 
should have made even small and feeble insects the instru- 
ments of His power, and that He should occasionally permit 
them to become the scourges of our race, ought we not to 
admire His wisdom in the formation of the still more humble 
agents that are appointed to arrest the work of destruction. 

The wheat crops in England and Scotland often suffer 
severely from the depredations of the maggots of a very small 
gnat, called the wheat-fly, or the Cecidomijia Tritici of Mr. 
Kirby. This insect seems to have been long known in Eng- 
land, as appears from the following extract from a letter, by 
Mr. Christopher Gullet, written in 1771, and published in the 
"Philosophical Transactions" for 1772. " What the farmers 
call the yellows in wheat, and which they consider as a kind 
of mildew, is, in fact, occasioned by a small yellow fly, with 
blue wings, about the size of a gnat. This blows in the ear 
of the corn, and produces a worm, almost invisible to the 
naked eye; but, being seen through a pocket microscope, it 
appears a large yellow maggot, of the color and gloss of am- 
ber, and is so prolific that I distinctly counted forty-one living 
yellow maggots in the husk of one single grain of wheat, a 
number sufficient to eat up and destroy the corn in a whole 
ear. One of those yellow flies laid at least eight or ten eggs, 
of an oblong shape, on my thumb, only while carrying by the 
wing across three or four ridges." In 1795, the history of this 
insect was investigated by Mr. Marsham,* and since that time 
Mr. Kirby,f Mr. Gorrie, and Mr. Shirreff, % have also turned 
their attention to it. The investigations of these gentlemen 
have become very interesting to us, on account of the recent 
appearance, in our own country, and the extensive ravages, of 
an insect apparently identical with the European wheat-fly. 
The following account of the latter will serve to show how far 
the European and American wheat-flies agree in their essential 

* " Transactions of the Linnaean Society," Vol. III., p. 142, and Vol. IV., p. 
224, 

t " Transactions of the Linnaean Society," Vol. IV., p. 230, and Vol. V., p. 96. 
+ Loudon's "Magazine of Natural History," Vol. II., p. 323, and 448. 



DIPTERA. 471 

characters and in their habits.* The European wheat-fly 
somewhat resembles a mosquito in form, but is very small, 
being only about one tenth of an inch long. Its body is 
orange-colored. Its two wings are transparent, and change- 
able in color; they are narrow at the base, rounded at the tip, 
and are fringed with little hairs on the edges. Its long an- 
tennEB, or horns, consist, in the female, of twelve little bead-like 
joints, each encircled with minute hairs; those of the male 
will probably be found to have a greater number of joints. 
Towards the end of .June, or when the wheat is in blossom, 
these flies appear in swarms in the wheat-fields during the 
evening, at which time they are very active. The females 
generally lay their eggs before nine o'clock, at night, thrusting 
them, by means of a long, retractile tube in the end of their 
bodies, within the chaffy scales of the flowers, in clusters of 
from two to fifteen, or more. By day they remain at rest on 
the stems and leaves of the plants, where they are shaded from 
the heat of the sun. They continue to appear and lay their 
eggs throughout a period of thirty-nine days. The eggs are 
oblong, transparent, and of a pale buff" color, and hatch in 
eight or ten days after they are laid. The young insects, pro- 
duced from them, are little footless maggots, tapering towards 
the head, and blunt at the hinder extremity, with the rings of 
the body somewhat wrinkled and bulging at the sides. They 
are at first perfectly transparent and colorless, but soon take a 
deep yellow or orange color. They do not travel from one 
floret to another, but move in a wriggling manner, and by 
sudden jerks of the body, when disturbed. As many as forty- 
seven have been counted in a single floret. It is supposed, 
that they live at first upon the pollen, and thereby prevent the 
fertilization of the grain. They are soon seen, however, to 
crowd around the lower part of the germ, and there appear to 
subsist on the matter destined to have formed the grain. The 
latter, in consequence of their depredations, becomes shrivelled 
and abortive; and, in some seasons, a considerable part of the 



* See also my article on wheat insects in the •* New England Farmer," for 
March 31, 1841, Vol. XIX., p. 306. 



472 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

crop is thereby rendered worthless. The maggots, when fully 
grown, are nearly one eighth of an inch long. Mr. Marsham 
and Mr. Kirby found some of them changed to pupae, within 
the ears of the wheat, and from these they obtained the fly 
early in September. The pupa, represented by them, is rather 
smaller than the full-grown maggot, of a brownish yellow 
color, and of an oblong oval form, tapering at each end. The 
pupsB found in the ears were very few in number, scarcely one 
to fifty of the maggots. Hence Mr. Kirby supposes, that the 
latter are not ordinarily transformed to flies before the spring. 
Towards the end of September he carefully took oft' the skin 
of one of them, and found that the insect within still retained 
the maggot form, and conjectures that the pupa is not usually 
complete until the following spring. It is evident, from these 
observations, that the English naturalists, above named, re- 
garded the insect as having entered upon the pupa state when 
it ceased feeding and became quiescent, at which time Mr. 
Kirby found it generally to adhere somewhat to the grain. In 
applying to it, in this condition, the name of chrysalis or pupa, 
and describing it as such, before it exhibited any trace of " the 
lineaments of the future fly," and while " still in the form of 
the larva," they followed the common usage of naturalists, as 
stated in my account of the Hessian fly. They cannot, there- 
fore, be said to have mistaken the larva for the matured pupa; 
the remarks of Mr. Kirby prove that he was well aware of the 
difference between them. ]\Ir. Kirby, however, was mistaken 
in his conjecture that "the insect inclosed itself in a thin 
membrane to protect itself from the cold of the winter;" the 
membrane, referred to, being merely the outer skin of the larva, 
loosened previously to being cast off" entirely ; a process which 
he did not observe. According to Mr. Gorrie, the maggots 
quit the ears of the wheat by the first of August, descend to 
the ground, and go into it to the depth of half an inch. That 
they remain here unchanged through the winter, and finish 
their transformations, and come out of the ground in the 
winged form, in the spring, when the wheat is about to blos- 
som, is rendered probable from the great number of the flies 
found by Mr. Shirreff", in the month of June, in all the fields 



DIPTERA. 473 

where wheat had been raised the year before. The increase 
of these flies is somewhat checked by the attacks of three 
different parasites, which have been described by Mr. Kirby. 
An excellent summary of the history of this insect, illustrated 
with figures, was published by Mr. Curtis, in the year 1845, in 
the sixth volume of the "Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England." 

An insect, resembling the foregoing in its destructive habits, 
and known, in- its maggot form, by the name of "the grain- 
worm," and "the weevil," has been observed, for several years, 
in the northern and eastern parts of the United States, and in 
Canada. It seems by some to have been mistaken for the 
grain-weevil, the Angoumois grain-moth, and the Hessian fly; 
and its history has been so confounded with that of another 
insect, also called the grain-worm, in some parts of the coun- 
try, that it is difficult to ascertain the amount of injury done 
by either of them alone. The wheat-fly is said to have been 
first seen in America about the year 1828,* in the northern 
part of Vermont, and on the borders of Lower Canada. From 
these places its ravages have gradually extended, in various 
directions, from year to year. A considerable part of Upper 
Canada, of New York, New Hampshire, and of Massachu- 
setts, have been visited by it; and, in 1834, it appeared in 
Maine, which it has traversed, in an easterly course, at the 
rate of twenty or thirty miles a year. The country, over 
which it has spread, has continued to suffer more or less from 
its alarming depredations, the loss by which has been found 
to vary from about one tenth part to nearly the whole of the 
annual crop of wheat; nor has the insect entirely disappeared 
in any place, till it has been starved out by a change of agri- 
culture, or by the substitution of late-sown spring wheat for 
the other varieties of grain. Many communications on this 
destructive insect have appeared in " The Genesee Farmer," 



* Judge Buel's Report in "The Cultivator," Vol. VI., p. 26; and "New 
England Farmer," Vol. IX., p. 42. Mr. Jewett says, that its first appearance in 
western Vermont occurred in 1820. See "New England Farmer," Vol. XIX., 
p. 301. 

60 



474 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

and in " The Cultivator," some of them written by the late 
Judge Buel, by whom, as well as by the editors of " The 
Yankee Farmer," rewards were offered for the discovery of 
the means to prevent its ravages. Premiums have also been 
proposed, for the same end, by the " Kennebec County Agri- 
cultural Society," in Maine, which were followed by the pub- 
lication, in " The Maine Farmer," of three " Essays on the 
Grain Worm," presented to that Society. These essays were 
reprinted in the seventeenth volume of the "New England 
Farmer," wherein, as well as in some other volumes of the 
same work, several other articles on this insect may be found. 
From these sources, and, more especially, from some interest- 
ing letters wherewith I w'as favored in the years 1838 and 
1841, by Mrs. N. G. Gage, formerly of Hopkinton, New 
Hampshire, the history of the wheat-fly in America, published 
in the first edition of this work, was chiefly derived. It will 
be found to contain a circumstantial relation of the moulting 
of the maggot, a process which hitherto does not appear to 
have been understood in Europe, and which later writers on 
the history of the wheat-fly in this country have failed to de- 
scribe. Personal observations on this insect in Maine and 
New Hampshire, and in the western parts of Massachusetts 
and of Connecticut, together with information gathered there 
from intelligent farmers, confirm the general correctness of my 
former statements, and enable me to add thereto some further 
particulars. 

The American wheat-insect, which I have seen alive, in its 
winged form, in Maine and in New Hampshire, and w^hich I 
have also reared from the larva, agrees exactly with the de- 
scriptions and figures of the European wheat-fly, or Cecidomyia 
Tritici of Mr. Kirby. It is a very small orange-colored gnat, 
with long, slender, pale-yellow legs, and two transparent wings, 
reflecting the tints of the rainbow, and fringed with delicate 
hairs. Its eyes are black and prominent. Its face and feelers 
are yellow. Its antenna3 are long and blackish. Those of the 
male are twice as long as the body, and consist of twenty-four 
joints, which, excepting the two basal ones, are globular, sur- 



DIPTERA. 475 

rounded by hairs, and connected by slender portions, like beads 
on a string.* The antennae of the females are about as long 
as the body, and consist of only twelve joints, which, except 
two at the base, are oblong oval, narrowed somewhat in the 
middle, and surrounded by two whorls of hairs. These insects 
vary much in size. The largest females do not exceed one 
tenth of an inch in length ; and many are found, towards the 
end of the season, less than half this length. The males are 
usually rather smaller than the females, and somewhat paler 
in color. Among hundreds that I have examined in the living 
state, I have never found one specimen with spotted wings. 

The time of their appearance in the winged form varies 
according to the season and the situation, from the beginning 
of June to the end of August. In Salisbury, Connecticut, 
they had entirely disappeared before the twenty-fifth of July, 
1851 ; but dviring the same year, I found them still in some 
numbers at North Conway, in New Hampshire, on the seven- 
teenth of August; and three days later, near the base of the 
"White Mountains. In most parts of New England, where 
wheat is cultivated, immense swarms of these orange-colored 
gnats infest fields of grain towards the last of June. "While 
the sun shines they conceal themselves among the leaves and 
weeds near the ground. They take wing during the morning 
and evening twilight, and also in cloudy w^eather, when they 
lay their eggs in the opening flowers of the grain. New 
swarms continue to come forth in succession, till the end of 
July; but Mr. Buel says that the principal deposit of eggs is 
made in the first half of July, when late sown winter-wheat 
and early sown spring-wheat are in the blossom or milk; and 
this statement agrees with the observations of Mrs. Gage. 
The flies are not confined to wheat alone, but deposit in bar- 
ley, rye, and oats, when these plants are in flower at the time 
of their appearance. I have found the maggots within the 
seed-scales of grass, growing near to wheat-fields. The eggs 
hatch in about eight days after they are laid, when the little 
yellow maggots or grain-worms may be found within the 

* These joints seem to me to be somewhat approximated in pairs. 



476 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

chaffy scales of the grain. Being hatched at various times 
during a period of four or five weeks, they do not all arrive at 
maturity together. Mrs. Gage informs me that they appear 
to come to their growth in twelve or fourteen days. They do 
not exceed one eighth of an inch in length, and many, even, 
when fully grown, are much smaller. From two to fifteen 
or twenty have been found within the husk of a single grain, 
and sometimes in every husk in the ear. In warm and shel- 
tered situations, and in parts of fields protected from the wind 
by fences, buildings, trees, or bushes, the insects are said to be 
much more numerous than in fields upon high ground or other 
exposed places, where the grain is kept in constant motion by 
the wind. Grain is commonly more infested by them during 
the second than the first year, when grown on the same ground 
two years in succession ; and it suffers more in the immediate 
vicinity of old fields, than in places more remote. These in- 
sects prey on the wheat in the milky state, and their ravages 
cease when the grain becomes hard. They do not burrow 
within the kernels, but live on the pollen and on the soft mat- 
ter of the grain, which they probably extract from the base of 
the germs. It appears, from various statements, that very 
early and very late wheat escape with comparatively little 
injury; the amount of which, in other cases, depends upon 
the condition of the grain at the time when the maggots are 
hatched. When the maggots begin their depredations soon 
Wter the blossoming of the grain, they do the greatest injury; 
for the kernels never fill out at all. Pinched or partly filled 
kernels are the consequence of their attacks when the grain is 
more advanced. The hulls of the impoverished kernels will 
always be found split open on the convex side, so as to expose 
the embryo. This is caused by the drying and shrinking of 
the hull, after a portion of the contents thereof has been 
sucked out by the maggots. Towards the end of July and in 
the beginning of August, the full-grown maggots leave off 
eating, and become sluggish and torpid, preparatory to moult- 
ing their skins. This process, which has been alluded to by 
Judge Buel and some other writers, has been carefully observed 
by Mrs. Gage, who sent to me the maggots before and after 



DIPTERA. 477 

moulting, together with some of their cast skins. It takes 
place in the following manner. The body of the maggot 
gradually shrinks in length within its skin, and becomes more 
flattened and less pointed, as may easily be seen through the 
delicate transparent skin, which retains nearly its original form 
and dimensions, and extends a little beyond the included in- 
sect at each end. The torpid state lasts only a few days, after 
which the insect casts off its skin, leaving the latter entire, 
except a little rent in one end of it. Mrs. Gage observed 
many of the maggots in the very act of emerging from their 
skins. The cast skins are exceedingly thin, and colorless, 
and, through a microscope, are seen to be marked with eleven 
transverse lines. Great numbers of the skins are to be found 
in the wheat-ears immediately after the moulting process is 
completed. Sometimes the maggots descend from the plants, 
and moult on the surface of the ground, where they leave their 
cast skins, as described by Mr. J. W. Dawson, of Pictou, Nova 
Scotia.* Late broods are sometimes harvested with the grain 
and carried into the barn without having moulted. This 
seems to have often happened in England, where the insect 
has been repeatedly noticed in the transition state, still en- 
closed within its loosened filmy skin. It is somewhat remark- 
able that the true nature of this covering of the maggot should 
not have been ascertained by English naturalists. Mr. Kirby, 
as before stated, supposed it to be a thin membrane, formed 
by the insect for the protection of its body from the cold of 
winter. According to Professor Henslow's account, the larvae 
" spin themselves up in a very thin and transparent web, which 
is often attached to a sound grain, or to the inside of one of 
the chaff-scales." t Mr. Curtis observed on the backs of some 
of the shrivelled grains "a long narrow filmy sac, on opening 
which a bright orange granulated maggot came out alive; and 
when shut up in a tin box, many voluntarily left their cases 
and wandered about." $ Having carefully watched the insect 

* " Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," Vol. 
IV.. p. 210. 

t " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England," Vol. II., p. 22. 
X " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England," Vol. VI., p. 145. 



478 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. ' 

during the moulting period, I am convinced that what these 
gentlemen called a "membrane," "web," or "sac," is really 
the loosened outer skin of the maggot, which is subsequently 
thrown off in the ears of the wheat, or is cast upon the surface 
of the ground. 

After shedding its skin, the maggot recovers its activity, and 
writhes about as at first, but takes no food. It is shorter, 
somewhat flattened, and more obtuse than before, and is of a 
deeper yellow color, with an oblong greenish spot in the middle 
of the body. Within two or three days after moulting, the 
maggots either descend of their own accord, or are shaken out 
of the ears by the wind, and fall to the ground. They do not 
let themselves down by threads, for they are not able to spin. 
Nearly all of them disappear before the middle of August; 
and they are very rarely found in the grain at the time of har- 
vest. JVIrs. Gage stated, in one of her letters, that she had not 
observed "how and when the insects issue from the grain," 
but that it was "apparent they go in company," and "perhaps 
they crawl out upon the heads during a rain, and are washed 
down to the ground, where they remain through the winter." 
On the fourteenth of August, 1841, she visited again the field 
of wheat where, on the twenty-fifth of July, she had found 
great numbers of the maggots, and observed that " a very few 
of all that multitude were left. On rubbing the ears, their 
silvery coverings glistened in the sunshine, and floated away 
on the breeze. A warm rain had fallen between these visits." 
In an account of the damage done by these insects in Ver- 
mont, in the summer of 1833, it is stated that, "after a shower 
of rain, they have been seen in such countless numbers on the 
beards of the wheat, as to give the whole field the color of the 
insect."* Mr. Elijah Wood, of Winthrop, Maine, in a short 
communication, written in the summer of 1837, made the fol- 
lowing remarks. " This day, 9th of August, a warm rain is 
falling, and a neighbor of mine has brought me a head of 
wheat which has become loaded with the worms. They are 
crawling out from the husk or chaff of the grain, and were on 

♦ " New England Farmer," Vol. XII., p. 60. 



DIPTERA. 479 

the beards, and he says he saw great numbers of them on the 
ground." * From these observations, and from remarks to the 
same effect, made to me by intelligent farmers, it appears that 
the descent of the insects is facilitated by falling rain and 
heavy dews. 

Having reached the ground, the maggots soon burrow under 
the surface, sometimes to the depth of about an inch, those of 
them that have not already moulted casting their skins before 
entering the earth. Here they remain, without further change, 
through the following winter. During the month of May, I 
have seen specimens still in the larva form, in the earth wherein 
they had been kept during the winter. It is not usually till 
June that they are transformed to pupee. This change is ef- 
fected without another moulting of the skin; not the slightest 
vestige of the larva-skin being found in the earth in which 
some of these insects had undergone their transformations. 
Moreover, the pupa is entirely naked, not being enclosed either 
in a cocoon or in the puparium formed of this outer skin of 
the larva, and it has its limbs and wings free or unconfined. 
The pupa state lasts but a short time, a week or two at most, 
and probably, in many cases, only a few days. Under the 
most favorable circumstances, the pupa works its way to the 
surface, before liberating the included fly; and when the insect 
has taken wing, its empty pupa-skin will be seen sticking out 
of the ground. In other cases, the fly issues from its pupa- 
skin in the earth, and comes to the surface with flabby wings, 
which soon expand and dry on exposure to the air. This last 
change occurs mostly during the months of June and July, 
when great numbers of the flies have been seen, apparently 
coming from the ground, in fields where grain was raised the 
year before. Some persons have stated that the insects are 
transformed to flies in the ears of the grain, having probably 
mistaken the cast-skins of the maggots found therein for the 
shells of the chrysalis or pupa. 

Several cases of the efficacy of fumigation in preventing 
the depredations of these insects are recorded in our agricul- 

* " New England Farmer," Vol. XVI., p. 61. 



480 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

tural papers.* For this purpose brimstone has been used, in 
the proportion of one pound to every bushel of seed sown. 
Strips of woollen cloth, dipped in melted brimstone, and fast- 
ened to sticks in different parts of the field, and particularly 
on the windward side, are set on fire, for several evenings in 
succession, at the time when the grain is in blossom; the 
smoke and fumes thus penetrate the standing grain, and prove 
very offensive or destructive to the flies, which are laying their 
eggs. A thick smoke from heaps of burning weeds, sprinkled 
with brimstone, around the sides of the field, has also been 
recommended. Lime or ashes, strown over the grain when 
in blossom, has, in some cases, appeared to protect the crop; 
and the Rev. Henry Colman, the Commissioner for the Agri- 
cultural Survey of Massachusetts, says that this preventive, if 
not infallible, may be relied on with strong confidence.! For 
every acre of grain, from one peck to a bushel of newly slacked 
lime or of good wood ashes will be required; and this should 
be scattered over the plants when they are wet with dew or 
rain. Two or three applications of it have sometimes been 
found necessary. Whether it be possible to destroy the mag- 
gots after they have left the grain, and have betaken them- 
selves to their winter quarters, just below the surface of the 
ground, remains to be proved. Some persons have advised 
ploughing up the ground, soon after the grain is harvested, in 
order to kill the maggots, or to bury them so deeply that they 
could not make their escape when transformed to flies. I am 
inclined to think that deep ploughing will prove to be the best 
and most practicable remedy. Perhaps thoroughly liming the 
soil before it is ploughed, may contribute to the destruction of 
the insects. The chaff, dust, and refuse straw should be care- 
fully examined, and, if found to contain any of the maggots, 
should be immediately burnt. It is stated that our crops may 
be saved from injury by sowing early in the autumn or late in 
the spring. By the first, it is supposed that the grain will 
become hard before many of the flies make their appearance ; 



* Among others, see "The Cultivator," Vol. V., p. 136. 

t "Third Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts," p. 67. 



DIPTERA. 481 

and by the latter, the plants will not come into blossom until 
the flies have disappeared. In those parts of New England 
where these insects have done the greatest injury, the cultiva- 
tion of fall-sown or winter grain has been given up; and this, 
for some years to come, will be found the safest course. The 
proper time for sowing in the spring will vary with the latitude 
and elevation of the place, and the forwardness of the season. 
From numerous observations, made in this part of the coun- 
try, it appears that grain sown after the fifteenth or twentieth 
of May generally escapes the ravages of these destructive 
insects. Late sowing has almost entirely banished the wheat- 
flies from those parts of Vermont where they first appeared; 
and there is good reason to expect that these depredators will 
be completely starved out and exterminated, when the means 
above recommended have been generally adopted and perse- 
vered in, for several years in succession. 

In the introductory chapter* a short account has already 
been given of the habits of the various kinds of gnats and 
flies, belonging to the principal families of this order. Besides 
the species that are injurious to vegetation, which have been 
now described, there still remain some of our native flies, that 
deserve a passing notice, on account of their size, or of pecu- 
liarities in their forms, structure, and habits, although few of 
them are to be included among the insects which are hurtful 
to plants. 

Among our long-legged gnats there is no one more singular 
in its appearance and graceful in its motions than the Ptycho- 
ptera clavipes, of Fabricius, or club-footed Ptychoptera. A 
new genus, called BiUacomorpha, on account of the fancied 
resemblance of this insect to the Neuropterous genus Bittacus, 
has lately been made for its reception, by Mr. Westwood.f 
This pretty gnat is of a black color, with a broad, white stripe 
on the face, a short, white line on the fore part of the thorax, 
and three broad, white rings on the legs. The sides of the 
thorax are silvery white, and the hind body is dusky brown, 
with a narrow white line on the edges of each of the rings. 

* Page 13. t "Philosophical Magazine," Vol. VL, p. 281. Lond. 1835. 

61 



482 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

The head is small, and almost hidden under the thick and 
hunched thorax ; the antennae are many-jointed, slender, and 
tapering; the hind body is long, narrow, and somewhat flat- 
tened; the legs are very slender next to the body, and increase 
in thickness towards the end, and the first joint of the feet is 
swollen, oblong oval, and very downy. The length of the 
body is about half an inch, and the wings expand nearly three 
quarters of an inch. It appears in July, and takes wing by 
day. As it flies slowly along, it seems almost to tread the 
air, balancing itself horizontally with its long legs, which are 
stretched out, like rays, from the sides of its body. 

There are exceptions to almost all general rules. Thus we 
find, among Dipterous insects, some kinds that never have 
wings. One of these is the thick-legged snow-gnat, or Chionea 
valga. This singular insect looks more like a spider than a 
gnat. Its body is rather less than one fourth of an inch long, 
and is of a brownish yellow or nankin color. The legs are 
rather paler, and are covered with short hairs. The head is 
small and hairy. The first two joints of the antennae are 
thick, the others slender and tapering, and beset with hairs. 
Although the wings are wanting, there is a pale yellow poiser 
on each side of the hinder part of the thorax. The hindmost 
thighs are very thick, and somewhat bowed, in the males, 
which suggested the name of valga, or bow-legged, given to 
the insect in my " Catalogue." The body of the female ends 
with a sword-shaped borer, resembling that of a grasshopper. 
These wingless gnats live on the ground, and the females bore 
into it to lay their eggs. They are not common here. Mr. 
Gosse found considerable numbers of them in Canada, crawl- 
ing on the snow, in pine woods, during the month of March.* 

Travellers and new settlers, in some parts of New England 
and Canada, are very much molested by a small gnat, called 
the black fly {Simulium molestum), swarms of which fill the air 
during the month of June. Every bite that they make draws 
blood, and is followed by an inflammation and swelling which 
last several days. These little tormentors are of a black color; 

* " Canadian Naturalist," p. 51. 



DIPTERA. 483 

their wings are transparent; and their legs are short, and have 
a broad whitish ring around them. The length of their body 
rarely exceeds one tenth of an inch. They begin to appear 
in May, and continue about six weeks, after which they are no 
more seen. They are followed, however, by swarms of midges, 
or sand-flies {Simulium nocivum), called no-see-'em, by the Li- 
dians of Maine, on account of their minuteness. So small 
are they, that they would hardly be perceived, were it not for 
their wings, which are of a whitish color, mottled with black. 
Towards evening these winged atoms come forth, and creep 
under the clothes of the inhabitants, and by their bites produce 
an intolerable irritation, and a momentary smarting, compared* 
to that caused by sparks of fire. They do not draw blood, 
and no swelling follows their attacks. They are most trouble- 
some during the months of July and August. 

The most common of our large gad-flies, or horse-flies, ap- 
pears to be the Tabanus atratus, of Fabricius. It is of a black 
color, and the back is covered with a whitish bloom, like a 
plum. The eyes are very large, and almost meet on the top 
of the head; they are of a shining purple-black or bronzed 
black color, with a narrow jet black band across the middle, 
and a broad band of the same hue on the lower part. The 
body of this fly is seven eighths of an inch or more in length, 
and the wings expand nearly two inches. The Tabanus duc- 
tus, of Fabricius, or orange-belted horse-fly, is not so common, 
and is rather smaller. It is also black, except the first three 
rings of the hind body, which are orange-colored. The most 
common of our smaller horse-flies is the Tabanus lineola, so 
named, by Fabricius, because it has a whitish line along the 
top of the hind body. Besides these flies, we have several 
more kinds of Tabanus, some of which do not appear to have 
been described. These blood-thirsty insects begin to appear 
towards the end of June, and continue through the summer, 
sorely tormenting both horses and cattle with their sharp bites. 
Their proboscis, though not usually very long, is armed with 
six stiff", and exceedingly sharp needles, wherewith they easily 

* See Gosse's " Canadian Naturalist," p. 100. 



484 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

pierce through the toughest hide. It is stated that they will 
not touch a horse whose back has been well washed with a 
strong decoction of walnut leaves. The eyes of these flies are 
very beautiful, and vary in their colors and markings in the 
different species. 

The golden-eyed forest-flies are also distinguished for the 
brilliancy of their spotted eyes, and for then- clouded or banded 
wings. They are much smaller than the horse-flies, but re- 
semble them in their habits. Some of them are entirely black 
(Chrt/sops ferrug'atus, Fabricius), others are striped with black 
and yellow {Chrysops vittatus, Wiedemann). They frequent 
woods and thickets, in July and August. 

The bee-flies, or Bombylians (Bombyliad^), have a very 
slender proboscis, sometimes exceeding the length of their 
body. They are met with in sunny paths in the woods, in 
April and May, They fly with great swiftness, stop suddenly 
every little while, and, balancing themselves with their long, 
horizontally spread wings, seem to hang suspended in the air. 
They often hover, in this way, over the early flowers, sucking 
out the honey thereof, like humming-birds, with their long bills. 
Our largest bee-fly is the Bombylius (cqualis, so named by Fa- 
bricius, because the wings are divided lengthwise, in their 
color, into two equal parts, the outer part being brownish 
black, and the inner half colorless and transparent. The body 
of this insect is short, rounded, and covered with yellowish 
hairs, like a humble-bee. It measures three eighths of an inch 
in length, and the wings expand rather more than seven eighths 
of an inch. 

There are some flies that prey on other insects, catching 
them on the wing or on plants, and sucking out their juices. 
Some of them have thick and hairy bodies and legs, and bear 
a striking resemblance to our biggest humble-bees. Such are 
the Laphria thoracica, of Fabricius, which is black, with yellow 
hairs on the top of the thorax, and measures eight or nine 
tenths of an inch in length ; another species, which may be 
called Laphria flavibarbis, differing from the former in having 
the face and sides of the head covered with a yellow beard, 
and in being an inch or more long; and the Laphria tergissa^ 



DIPTERA. 485 

of Say, which is somewhat like the last, but has yellow hairs 
on the three middle segments of the hind body, and on the 
shanks of the anterior and middle pairs of legs, and measures 
about an inch in length. These insects belong to a family 
called AsiLiD^, from Asilus, the principal genus. In the larva 
state, those of the Asilians, whose habits are known, live in 
the ground upon the roots of plants, and sometimes do con- 
siderable mischief, as proved to be the case with some that 
were sent to me last May, by the Rev. Thomas Hill, of Wal- 
tham, who found them devouring the roots of the tart rhubarb. 
They were yellowish white maggots, about three quarters of 
an inch long, not perfectly cylindrical, but a little depressed, 
and tapering at each end. The head was small, brown, and 
partially drawn within the first ring, and was provided with 
two little horny brown hooks. There was a pair of breathing- 
pores on the first ring, and another pair on the last but one. 
These maggots were transformed in the earth to naked pupae, 
having the limbs free. The pupa was brown, and had a pair 
of short horns on the forehead, three spines on each side of the 
head, a forked tail, and a transverse row of little teeth across 
the middle of each ring of the hind body. When about to 
undergo their last transformation, the pupae work their way to 
the surface of the ground by the help of the little teeth on 
their rings. I have repeatedly seen the empty pupa-shells 
sticking half way out of the ground around rhubarb plants. 
In the fore part of July, there issued from these pupae some 
long-bodied flies, which proved to be of the species called 
Asilus sericeus, by Mr. Say. The body of this insect is slen- 
der and tapering, and measures from eight tenths of an inch to 
one inch and one tenth in length. It is of a brownish yellow 
color, covered with a short silky down, varying in different 
lights from golden yellow to brown, and with a broad brown 
stripe on the top of the thorax. The wings are smoky brown, 
with broad brownish yellow veins, and expand one inch and a 
quarter, or more. We have several other kinds of Asilus, some 
larger, and others smaller than the foregoing, of whose history 
nothing is known, except their predaceous habits in the winged 
state, which have been often observed. There are also several 



486 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

slender kinds of Laphria; but these are easily distinguished 
from every species of Asilus by their antenna, which are not, 
as in the latter, tipped with a slender point, but are blunt at 
the end. 

Besides the foregoing, there are many other rapacious flies, 
some of which are of great size. The largest one found here 
is the orange-banded Midas {Midas Jilatus*), specimens of 
which are sometimes found measuring an inch and a quarter 
in length, with wings expanding two inches and a quarter. It 
is black, with an orange-colored band on the second ring of 
the hind body; and the wings are smoky brown, with a metal- 
lic lustre. It receives its scientific name, flatus, signifying 
threadlike, from its antennte, which are long and slender, but 
they end with an oblong oval knob. Its generical name was 
also given to it on account of its long antennae ; Midas, in 
Mythology, being the name of a person fabled to have had the 
long ears of an ass. The orange-banded Midas may often be 
seen flying in the woods in July and August, or resting and 
basking in the sun upon fallen trees. Its transformations have 
never been described. Its larva and pupa almost exactly re- 
semble those of the rapacious Asilians. The larva is a cylin- 
drical, whitish maggot, tapering before, and almost rounded 
behind; it has only two breathing-holes, which are placed in 
the last ring but one ; and it grows to the length of two inches. 
It lives and undergoes its transformations in decayed logs and 
stumps. The pupa measures about an inch and a quarter in 
length; it is of a brown color, and nearly cylindrical shape; 
its tail is forked; there are eight thorns on the fore part of its 
body; and each ring of the abdomen is edged with numerous 
sharp teeth, like a saw, all these teeth pointing backwards 
except those on the back of the first ring, which are directed 
forwards. The pupa pushes itself half way out of the stump 
when the fly is about to come forth, and the latter makes its 
escape by splitting open the back of the pupa-skin. 

In the month of June, there may sometimes be seen, resting 
on the grass or on rotten stumps, in open woods, a large, hght- 

* Incorrectly named Mydas Jilata, by Fabricius. 



DIPTERA. 487 

brown or drab-colored fly, somewhat like a horse-fly in form, 
bvit easily distinguished therefrom by two little thorns on the 
hinder part of the thorax ; and by the wings, which do not 
spread so much when the insect is at rest. It is heavy and 
sluggish in its motions, and does not attempt to fly away when 
approached. This insect was called Cmnomyia pallida^ the pale 
Cosnomyia, by Mr. Say, in the Appendix to Keating's " Narra- 
tive," and in the second volume of the " American Entomolo- 
gy," where it is figured. The generical name, signifying a 
common fly, is rather unfortunate, for this is a rare insect. 
The only specimens known to Mr. Say were found by him in a 
small forest of scattered trees, on the Pecktannos river, in Wis- 
consin Territory. A few have been taken in Massachusetts, 
one of them on Blue Hill, in Milton ; and Mr. Gosse found 
tliree specimens, in as many years, in Canada. In its trans- 
formations this insect is more nearly related to the gad-flies 
and the Asilians than to the soldier-flies, near which it has 
generally been placed ; though it approaches the latter in its 
structure, and in its sluggish habits. The larvee or maggots, 
though not yet discovered, undoubtedly live in the ground, or 
in decayed vegetable substances, like those of the horse-flies 
and other predatory insects; for Mr. Gosse found one of his 
specimens, on the grass, in the act of emerging from the pupa- 
skin. He has also figured* the pupa, which is of a chestnut- 
brown color, and has transverse rows of spines on the abdom- 
inal rings. 

Most of the soldier-flies (Stratiomyad^) are armed with 
two thorns or sharp spines on the hinder part of the thorax. 
They form the first family of the flies that undergo their trans- 
formations within the hardened skin of the larva, which is not 
thrown off" till they break through it to come out in the winged 
state. Their proboscis contains, at most, only four bristles, is 
not fitted for piercing, but ends with large fleshy lips, by means 
whereof these flies suck the sweet juices of flowers. Most of 
them are found in wet places, where their larvae live ; some of 
the latter being provided with a tube, in the hinder extremity, 

* " Canadian Naturalist," p. 199. 



488 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION, 

which they thrust out of the water in order to breathe. The 
skin of these larvsB is merely shortened a little, without wholly 
losing its former shape, when the inclosed insects change to 
pupae; thereby showing that this family is truly intermediate 
between the preceding flies, which cast off their larva-skins, 
and those which retain them, and take an oblong oval shape, 
when they become pupae. Some of the soldier-flies ( Stratyo- 
mijs) have a broad oval body, ornamented with yellow triangles 
or crescents on each side of the back, and their antennae are 
somewhat like those of Midas and of the gad-flies; others [Sar- 
ins) are slender, often of a brilliant brassy green color, with a 
bristle on the tip of their antennae. The maggots of the latter 
live in rich mould. 

The Syrphians (Syrphid.e) have a fleshy, large-lipped pro- 
boscis, elbowed near the base, and enclosing only four slender 
bristles. They live on the honey of flowers. The last joint 
of their short antennae bears a bristle, which is sometimes 
feathered. Their heads are large and hemispherical. Many 
of these flies are often mistaken for bees or wasps, and some 
of them lay their eggs in the nests of the insects they so closely 
resemble. Others drop their eggs among plant-lice, which 
their young afterwards destroy in great numbers. The larvae 
of a few are aquatic, and are provided with very long, tubular 
tails, through which they breathe, and have been called rat- 
tailed maggots. Some of the largest and most beautiful of 
these flies live, in the maggot state, in rotten wood. One of 
these rat-tailed flies is often seen on windows, in the autumn. 
It flies with a buzzing noise. Its eyes are very large, and of a 
bright copper-color; its body is brassy green; and there are 
five gray stripes on the thorax. It measures about four tenths 
of an inch in length. It is the Eristalis sincerus of my " Cat- 
alogue." The Milesia exceritrica, named in the same work, 
strikingly resembles a hornet; its hind body being banded 
with black and yellow in the same way. Its head and thorax 
are black, the former margined around the eyes, and the latter 
spotted, with yellowish white. The legs are ochre-yellow, 
except the shanks and feet of the first pair, which are black. 
Its body measures nearly three quarters of an inch in length. 



DIPTERA. 489 

My Sphecomyia undata has the slender form of a Sphex or 
mud-wasp. It is of a light brown color, darker on the back, 
and on the middle of the thighs and shanks; its head is coni- 
cal, and bears the antennas on the tip of the cone; its wings 
are brown on the outer part, with a small transparent spot 
near the edge, and the inner part is transparent in two large 
wavy spaces. It is about five eighths of an inch long, and its 
wings expand one inch and a quarter, or more. It is possible 
that this singular fly may be the Pyrgota undata of Wiede- 
mann. An insect, closely resembling it, is figured in Griffith's 
translation of Cuvier's " Animal Kingdom," under the name 
of Myopa nigripennis. It is found on fences around gardens 
in May and June. It sits with its wings half spread, moves 
slowly, and flies heavily. My Sphecomyia valida, though rather 
shorter than the preceding, has a thicker body. Its color is 
brownish yellow, and it is striped with brown. The wings 
are transparent, and are mottled with small, dusky spots. 

Some of the Conopians [ConopidcB) still more closely re- 
semble slender-bodied wasps than the preceding Sphex-flies. 
Conops sagittaria, of Say, {uigricornis^ Wiedemann) might 
almost be mistaken for a species of Emnenes. Its hind body 
is very slender and cylindrical next to the thorax, and swells 
out behind. Its antenuEe are long, and thickened towards the 
end. Its proboscis is very long and slender, elbowed at the 
base, and extends far beyond the head. This fly is of a black 
color; the rings of the hind body are edged with white; the 
face is yellow; the legs are brownish yellow, shaded with 
black on the thighs; and the wings are black, with two un- 
colored and w^avy spaces on the inner margin. Its body is 
five eighths of an inch long, and its wings expand rather more 
than three quarters of an inch. This fly may be found suck- 
ing the honey of flowers in June and July. The Greeks gave 
the name of Conops to some stinging fly or gnat. The Cono- 
pians undergo their transformations in the bodies of humble- 
bees, their young subsisting on the fat contained within the 
abdomen of their luckless victims. 

A host of flies, forming nearly one third of the whole num- 
ber of species in the order Diptera, will be found to have a 
62 



490 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

short and soft proboscis, ending with large fleshy lips, enclosing 
only two bristles, and capable of being drawn up Avithin the 
cavity of the mouth. Their antenna? are generally short, hang 
down over the face, and end with a large oval joint, bearing a 
little bristle. Their larvse, or young, are fleshy, whitish mag- 
gots, which never cast their skins, but when the pupa-state 
comes on, shorten, take the oblong oval form of an egg, and 
become brown, dry, and hard on the outside. This immense 
tribe includes the various kinds of flesh-flies, blow-flies, house- 
flies, dung-flies, flower-flies, fruit-flies, two-winged gall-flies, 
cheese-flies, and many others, for which we have no common 
names, but all composing the tribe of Muscans, or Muscad^. 
Some of these flies do not strictly conform to the foregoing 
characters of the tribe, in all respects; but the exceptions are 
few in number, and the most remarkable of them will be no- 
ticed in the following pages. 

Many flies of this tribe are parasitic in their larva state, their 
young living and undergoing their transformations within the 
bodies of other insects, particularly in caterpillars, which they 
thereby destroy. These flies belong chiefly to the family of 
Tachinad.e, a name applied to them on account of the swift- 
ness of their flight. In form they somewhat resemble house- 
flies; like them they have very large winglets, and their wings 
spread apart when they are at rest. They are easily distin- 
guished, however, by the stift" hairs wherewith they are more 
or less covered, and by the bristles on their antennse, which 
are not usually feathered. A large fly of this kind, the Ta- 
chiiia vivida of my " Catalogue," is often seen on fences, and 
on plants, and sometimes in houses, towards the end of June 
and during the month of July. Its large, oval hind body is of 
a clear and light red color, with two or three black spots, in a 
row, on the top of it, and a thick row of black bristles across 
each ring. The face is grayish white, like satin, and the eyes 
are copper-colored. The thorax is gray, with brownish lines 
upon it. The antennae, proboscis, and legs are light red. Its 
body is short and thick, and is about half an inch long, and 
its wings expand rather more than nine tenths of an inch. 

Most insects are hatched from eggs which are laid by the 



I 



DIPTERA. 491 

mother on the substances that are to serve for the food of her 
young. Some flesh-flies produce their young alive, or akeady 
hatched, and drop them on the dead and putrefying animal 
matter, which they are to consume and remove in the shortest 
possible time. An exception from the usual course among 
insects appears therefore to have been made in favor of these 
viviparous flesh-flies, to enable their young promptly to per- 
form their appointed tasks. These insects produce an immense 
number of young, as many as twenty thousand having been 
observed by Reaumur in a single fly.* Our largest viviparous 
flesh-fly is the Sarcophaga Georg-itia of Wiedemann. It ap- 
pears towards the end of June, and continues till the middle 
of August, or perhaps later. Its face is silvery white, and 
there is an oblong square black spot between the eyes, which 
are copper-colored. The thorax is light gray, with seven black 
stripes upon it. The hind body is nearly conical, has the lus- 
tre of satin, and is checkered with square spots of black and 
white, shifting or interchanging their colors according to the 
light wherein they are seen. The legs are black, and the hind- 
most pair are very hairy in the males. The female is about 
half an inch long; the male is rather smaller. In the Sarcopha- 
gans, or flesh-eaters, as the name implies, the bristles on the 
antennae are feathered. 

The flies that abound in stables in August and September, 
and sometimes enter houses on the approach of rain, might be 
mistaken for house-flies, were it not for the severity of their 
bites, which are often felt through our clothing, and are gen- 
erally followed by blood. Upon examination they will be 
found to difler essentially from house-flies in their proboscis, 
which is very long and slender, and projects horizontally be- 
yond the head. The bristles on their antennae are feathered 
above. Cattle sufler sorely from the piercing bites of these 
flies, and horses are sometimes so much tormented and enraged 
by them as to become entirely ungovernable in harness. The 
name of this kind of fly is Stomoxi/s calcitrans; the first word 
signifying sharp-mouthed, and the second kicking, given to the 

* " M6moires," Vol. IV., p. 417. 



492 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

fly from the effect it prodnces on horses. It lays its eggs in 
dung, where its young are hatched, and pass through their 
transformations. The larvae and pupae do not differ much in 
appearance from those of common house-flies. 

The next three flies have feathered brivstles on their antennae. 
The first of them, a large, buzzing, and stinking meat-fly, 
named Musca ( Calliphora) vomitoria, is of a blue-black color, 
with a broad, dark blue, and hairy hind body. It is found all 
summer about slaughter-houses, butchers' stalls, and pantries, 
which it frequents for the purpose of laying its eggs on meat. 
The eggs are commonly called fly-blows; they hatch in two or 
three hours after they are laid, and the maggots produced from 
them come to their growth in three or four days, after which 
they creep away into some dark crevice, or burrow in the 
ground, if they can get at it, turn to egg-shaped pupae, and 
come out as flies, in a few days more ; or they remain un- 
changed through the winter, if they have been hatched late 
in the summer. A smaller fly, of a brilliant blue-green color, 
with black legs, also lays its eggs on meat, but more often on 
dead animals in the fields. It seems hardly to differ from the 
Musca (Lk cilia) Cocsar of Europe. The house-fly of this 
country has been supposed to be the same as the European 
Musca domestica; but I cannot satisfy myself on this point for 
the want of specimens from Europe. It is possible that our 
sharp-biting stable-flies, the meat-flies, and the house-fly, may 
really be distinct species from those which are found in Europe. 
Our house-fly is the Miisca Harpyia, or Harpy-fly, of my " Cat- 
alogue." It begins to appear in houses in July, becomes ex- 
ceedingly abundant in September, and does not disappear till 
killed by cold weather. It is probable that, like the domestic 
fly of Europe, it lays its eggs in dung, in which its larvae live, 
and pass through their changes of form. The Americans are 
accused of carelessness in regard to flies, and apparently with 
some reason. But, if these filthy, dung-bred creatures swarm 
in some houses, covering every article of food by day, and 
absolutely blackening the walls by night, in others compara- 
tively few are found; for the tidy housekeeper takes care not 
to leave food of any kind standing about, uncovered, to entice 



\ 



DIPTERA. 493 

them in, and makes a business of driving out the intruders at 
least once a day. If a plateful of strong green tea, well sweet- 
ened, be placed in an outer apartment accessible to flies, they 
will taste of it, and be killed thereby, as surely as by the most 
approved fly-poison. In the first volume of "The Transac- 
tions of the Entomological Society of London," Mr. Spence 
gives an account of a mode of excluding flies from apartments, 
which has been tried with complete success in England. It 
consists of netting, made of fine worsted or thread, in large 
meshes, or of threads alone, half of an inch or more apart, 
stretched across the windows. It appears that the flies will 
not attempt to pass through the meshes, or between the threads, 
into a room which is lighted only on one side; but if there are 
windows on another side of the room they will then fly through ; 
such windows should therefore be darkened with shutters or 
thick curtains. 

The Anthomyians, or flower-flies (ANTHOMYiADiE), are easily 
distinguished from the preceding flies, which they otherwise 
resemble, by the smaller size of their winglets, and by the mesh 
in the middle of their wings, which is long, narrow, and open 
at the end. They are smaller insects than the foregoing, their 
flight is more feeble, their wings, when at rest, do not spread 
so much, and the bristle on the last joint of their antennae is 
not often feathered. Most of them frequent flowers, and are 
sometimes seen sporting together, in large swarms, in the air, 
like certain kinds of gnats. In the larva state some of them 
live in manure, and in rotten vegetable substances; others are 
found in the roots of living plants, such as onions, radishes, 
turnips, and even in the pulpy parts of leaves and of stems, 
which they devour. The latter have nearly the same form as 
the maggots of common flies; some of the former are shorter, 
flattened, and fringed on the sides with feathery hairs. 

Many instances are recorded of these fringed maggots having 
been discharged from the human body. They are supposed to 
be the young of a fly named Anthomyia [Homalomyia) scalaris* 



* For an account of the transformations of the fly of privies, with figures, see 
Swammerdam's "Book of Nature," translated by Hill, Part II., p. 38, plate 38. 



494 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

Flies closely resembling this are sometimes seen in privies, and 
a friend has presented me with one of them, together with the 
dried larva-skin out of which it came. The larva was found 
in excrement. The fly is grayish black, and hairy, with large 
copper-colored eyes, which are surrounded by a narrow silvery 
white line. It measures one quarter of an inch in length. The 
larva-skin has two rows of hairs on the back, and two more 
on each side. Another fly, sometimes seen on windows in the 
autumn, is produced, if I mistake not, from a hairy maggot 
that lives in rotten turnips. This fly strikingly resembles the 
Anthomyia canicularis of Europe, and is possibly identical with 
it. It is of a dark gray color, with copper-colored eyes, encir- 
cled by a silvery white line, and with a large, semitransparent, 
yellowish spot on each side of the first three rings of the hind 
body. It measures rather less than one quarter of an inch in 
length. The fringed maggots of the canicularis are stated by 
some naturalists to have been obtained from the human body. 
It is not impossible that they may have been swallowed with 
turnips, or other vegetables, eaten when going to decay. 

Radishes, while growing, are very apt to be attacked by 
maggots, and rendered unfit to be eaten. These maggots are 
finally transformed to small, ash-colored flies, with a silvery 
gray face, copper-colored eyes, and a brown spot on the fore- 
head of the females; they have some faint brownish lines on 
the thorax, and a longitudinal black line on the hind body, 
crossed by narrower black lines on the edges of the rings. They 
vary in size, but usually measure rather more than one fifth of 
an inch in length. They finish their transformations, and appear 
above ground, towards the end of June. The radish-fly is called 
Anthomyia Raphani, in my " Catalogue," from the botanical 
name of the radish, on the root of which its larvae feed. It 
closely resembles the root-fly {Anf/io)/i//ia radicum) of Europe. 

Onions, soon after they come up in the spring, and until they 
are grown to a considerable size, are often observed to turn 
yellow and die. Many years ago I remember to have seen 
them extensively affected in this way, so that there was a fail- 
ure of three fourths of the plants in a large bed. The cause 
of their death was not suspected at the time, and no examina- 



DIPTERA. 495 

tioii was made for the discovery of insects in them. Since 
then, I have been favored by Mr. Westwood with copies of 
two articles* by him, on the onion-fly [Anthomyia Ceparum), 
which, in the maggot state, lives in the roots of onion plants 
in Europe, and causes them to wither and perish exactly in 
the same way as young onions do here. Hence there is good 
reason to believe that the failure of our onion crop is caused 
by the ravages of maggots similar to those of the European 
onion-fly. The latter lays its eggs on the leaves of the onion, 
close to the earth, so that the maggots, when hatched, readily 
make their way to the heart of the onion. The maggots come 
to their growth in about two weeks, turn to pupse within the 
onions, and come out as flies a fortnight afterwards. We have 
a kind of fly, corresponding almost exactly with the descrip- 
tion of the onion-fly. This strengthens my belief that our 
onions suffer from the depredations of the maggots of this or 
of a similar insect. The fly to which I allude is often found 
on windows in the spring. It is ash-colored, with black hairs 
sparingly scattered on its body. It has a rust-colored forked 
spot on the top of its head, and three rust-red lines on the 
thorax; and the wings are tinged with yellow near the shoul- 
ders. It measures one fourth of an inch in length. It is stated 
that there are two or three generations of the European onion- 
flies during the summer, and that the late broods pass the win- 
ter in the pupa state, and are ready to burst forth at the first 
warmth of the following spring. It is stated that the onion 
crop may be preserved from the attacks of this fly, by sowing 
the seed on ground upon which a quantity of straw has been 
previously burnt. 

The peculiar disease that has affected potatoes within the 
last ten years, has been attributed, by many persons, to the 
depredations of insects. In the course of this work, several of 
these insects have been described. Another is now to be added 
to them, as will be seen by the following extract from a letter, 
received from a correspondent in July, 1851. " A new potato- 

* See the "Magazine of Natural History," Vol. VII., p, 425, and the " Gar. 
dener's Magazine," Vol, XIII., p. 241. The same insect is also described and 
figured in Kollar's "Treatise," p. 167. 



496 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

rot theory has recently appeared in Brattleborough, Vermont. 
The mischief is referred to a fly, of which an authentic speci- 
men is enclosed. It is said that the species first appeared 
simultaneously with the potato-rot; and the flies are accused 
of hovering about the manure, and depositing their eggs, so 
that the larvee infect the potatoes." The specimen proved to 
be a common dung-fly, which may be found in abundance 
upon manure when carted into the field in the spring. The 
male is easily distinguished from other flies by its yellow and 
very hairy hind body and legs, and by its long and narrow 
wings. It is about half as large as a honey-bee; and it 
measures, from the face to the tips of the closed wings, from 
two fiths to one half of an inch, or more. The females are 
smaller, olive-colored, and sparingly clothed with short whitish 
hairs, with legs and wings like those of the male. The maggots 
or young, with the parent insects, live wholly upon dung, and 
are innocent of any injury to plants. The accusation brought 
against this insect entitles it to notice in this work, and to the 
distinction of a name and character by which it may hereafter 
be known. It may, therefore, be called Scatophaga furcata* 
the forked dung-eater. The dung-flies, or Scatomyians (Sca- 
TOMYZAD^), in some of their characters, resemble the flower- 
flies, having similar wings, and very small winglets ; but their 
eyes are wide apart, and are of the same size in both sexes. 
The fly in question keeps its body remarkably clean, notwith- 
standing its dirty habits, and is neither offensive to the eye or 
to the smell. The general color of the male is a bright ochre- 
yelloM^ The antennae are pale red, and there is a wide forked 
red spot on the top of the head. The thorax is obscurely 
striped with brown above, and is lead-colored below the scutel. 
The hind body is oblong oval, and covered with long ochre- 
yellow hairs. The wings are ochre-yellow at the base and on 
the outer margin ; and the two little transverse veins upon each 
of them are very conspicuous from their dark color and dusky 
borders. The legs are reddish yellow, and covered with long 

* Pyropa furcata, Say. " Journ. Acad. Nat. Sciences," Vol. III., p. 98. To 
an imperfect specimen of this insect, Mr. Say gave the name of Scatophaga pos- 
tilena, which it bears in the " Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts." 



DIPTERA. 497 

ochre-yellow hairs, intermixed with which there are a few 
black bristles; and there is a faint blackish line on the top of 
the first pair of thighs. A few black bristles are scattered upon 
the head and the top of the thorax. The bristle of the an- 
tennae, when viewed with a powerful magnifier, is found to be 
covered with very minute hairs. 

Some two-winged flies deposit their eggs in the stems, buds, 
and leaves of plants, thereby producing large tumors or galls, 
wherein their young reside. Others lay their eggs in fruits, on 
the pulp of which their maggots live. These gall and fruit 
flies belong to a family called Ortalidians (ORTALiDiDiE), from 
a word signifying to flap or shake the wings; for they keep 
their wings in motion nearly all the time, jerking them up and 
down, and twisting them round so that the thick outer edges 
often come together. Some of them are in the habit of sud- 
denly raising their wings perpendicularly above their backs, 
and running along a few steps with them spread like the tail of 
a peacock. These insects, together with several other groups 
of flies, differ from all the foregoing in many respects, although 
they agree with them in their transformations. The forehead 
is broad in both sexes; their winglets are very small or entirely 
wanting; their powers of flight are feeble; and they are rarely 
found sporting on flowers in the sunshine, but seem generally 
to prefer shady and damp places. The wings of the Ortalidi- 
ans are often beautifully variegated, striped, or spotted with 
shades of brown or black. The hind body in the female gen- 
erally ends with a pointed tube, wherewith the eggs are depos- 
ited. The little white maggots often found in over ripe whor- 
tleberries, raspberries, cherries, and other fruits, are the young 
of some of these insects. Swellings, or galls, as large as a 
walnut, are often seen on the stems of some of our native 
Asters or starworts. They are caused by the punctures of a 
fly, which lays its eggs, singly, in the stem, when the latter 
is tender. The puncture is followed by a spongy swelling, 
wherein the maggot, hatched from the egg, lives, and passes 
through its transformations. The insect finally comes out in 
the fly state, through a small hole previously made in the gall 
by the maggot. This fly may be called the gall-fly of the star- 
63 



498 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

wort ( Tephritis Aster is). Its body is about one fifth of an inch 
long; it is of a light yellowish brown color, with paler legs; 
the wings are broad, rounded at the tip, and clouded with brown 
in large spots, forming three wide, irregular bands across them. 
Many of the smallest flies, belonging to several other groups, 
are placed near the end of the order. One of them has a head 
like a hammer-headed shark, short and very wide, with large 
globular eyes on each side of it. This little insect has been 
found in considerable numbers, flying near the ground, on the 
edges of banks. It is the Sphyracephala brevicornis of Mr. 
Say, and is figured and described in the third volume of his 
" American Entomology." The well-known cheese-maggots 
are the young of a fly [Piophila casei), not more than three 
twentieths of an inch long, of a shining black color, with the 
middle and hinder legs mostly yellowish, and the wings trans- 
parent like glass. Some minute flies, belonging to a family 
called OsciNiD/E, are found to be very injurious to wheat, rye, 
and barley, in Europe. One of them [Oscinis frit), a shining 
black fly, with yellowish feet, and measuring about one tenth 
of an inch in length, lays its eggs in the blossoms of barley, 
the grains of which afterwards perish in consequence of the 
depredations of the maggots of this fly; and Linnaeus states 
that a tenth part of the produce of the barley in Sweden is 
thereby annually destroyed. The larvae or maggots of Oscinis 
lineata, Cklorops piimilionis, C/ilorops glabra, and other flies 
allied to them, live within the lower part of the stems of wheat, 
rye, and barley, thereby impoverishing the plants, and causing 
them to become stinted in their growth. They are rather 
larger insects than the frit-fly, and they have black and yellow 
stripes on the thorax. It is highly probable that some of these 
species, or other Oscinians, with similar habits, may be found 
in the stems of wheat and other grains in this country, and 
perhaps also in the ears. Several kinds of small flies, evidently 
ditFerent from the Hessian and wheat flies, have often been 
observed here, in fields of grain, when the plants are in flower ; 
but their history has not yet been investigated, and the insects 
have not been scientifically examined and described. From 
the somewhat vague accounts that have been given of them, 



DIPTERA. 499 

it is evident that they are mucli too large for any of the para- 
sitical insects which attack the larvLE and eggs of the Hessian 
and wheat (lies; and they appear sometimes to have be(Mi mis- 
taken for the latter. In an extract from a paper by Mr. Worth, 
on the Hessian fly, mention is made of a pale yellow worm 
(maggot), about three sixteenths of an inch long, having been 
found by him within the stalks of wheat near the root, where 
its presence was detected by a swelling of the part attacked. 
This was perhaps the larva of one of the Oscinians. A care- 
ful examination of all the insects that inhabit our fit-Ids of 
grain is very much wanted. 

The various insects, improperly called bot-bees, are two- 
winged flies, and belong to the order Diptera, and the family 
ffisTRiDyK, so named from the princii)al genus in it. Bot-flies 
do not seem to have any mouth or jn'oboscis; for although 
these parts do really exist in them, the opening of the mouth 
is extremely small, and the proboscis is very short, and is en- 
tirely concealed in it; so that these insects, while in the winged 
state, do not appear to be able to take any nourishment. They 
somewhat resemble the Syrphians in form and color, and in 
the large size of their heads; but the eyes are proportionally 
small, and there is a large space between them. Tiie face is 
swollen or puffed out before. The antenna? are very short, 
and almost buried in two little holes, close together, on the 
forehead. The winglets are large and entirely cover the poisers. 
The hind body of the females ends with a conical tube, bent 
under the body, and used for depositing the eggs, which the 
insect lays whilst flying. The larvre or young of bot-llies live 
in various parts of the bodies of animals. They are thick, 
fleshy, whitish maggots, without feet, tapering towards the 
liead, which is generally armed with two hooks; and the rings 
of the body are surrounded with rows of smaller hooks or 
prickles. When they are fully grown, they drop to the ground 
and burrow in it a short distance. After this, the skin of the 
maggot becomes a hard and brownish shell, within which the 
insect turns to a pupa, and finally to a fly, and comes out by 
pushing off a little piece like a lid from the small end of the 
shell. 



500 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 

More than twenty different kinds of bot-flies are already 
known, and several of them are found in this country. Some 
of them have been brought here with our domesticated animals 
from abroad, and have here multiplied and increased. Three 
of them attack the horse. The large bot-fly of the horse ( Gas- 
terophiliis equi) has spotted wings. She lays her eggs about 
his knees; the small red-tailed species [G. hamorrhoidalis), on 
his lips; and the brown farrier bot-fly (G. vetcrinns) under his 
throat, according to Dr. Roland Green. By rubbing and biting 
the parts where the eggs are laid, the horse gets the maggots 
into his mouth, and swallows them with his food. The insects 
then fasten themselves, in clusters, to the inside of his stomach, 
and live there till they are fully grown. The following are 
stated to be the symptoms shown by the horse when he is 
much infested by these insects. He loses flesh, coughs, eats 
sparingly, and bites his sides; at length he has a discharge 
from his nose, and these symptoms are followed by a stiffness 
of his legs and neck, staggering, difficulty in breathing, con- 
vulsions, and death. No sure and safe remedy has yet been 
found sufficient to remove bots from the stomach of the horse. 
The only treatment to be recommended, is copious bleeding, 
and a free use of mild oils, in the early stages of the attack. 
The preventive means are very simple, consisting only in 
scraping off the eggs or nits of the fly every day.* Bracy 
Clark, Esq., who has published some very interesting remarks f 
on the bots of horses and of other animals, maintains that bots 
are rather beneficial than injurious to the animals they infest. 
His principal work on this subject I have not yet seen. The 
maggots of the Oestrus bovis, or ox bot-fly, live in large open 
boils, sometimes caUed wornils or wurmals, that is, worm-holes, 
on the backs of cattle. The fly is rather smaller than the horse 

* See Dr. Green's " Natural History of the Horse-Eee," in Adams's " Medi- 
cal and Agricultural Register," Vol. I., p. 53 ; and tlie same in " The New Eng- 
land Farmer," Vol. IV., p. 345. 

t "Observations on the genus CEstrus," in the "Transactions of the Linnaean 
Society," Vol. III., p. 289, with figures ; " On the insect called Oistros by the 
Ancients," in Vol. XV. of the same work ; and " An Essay on the Bots of Horses 
and other Animals." 1 vol. 4to. Lond. 1815. 



DIPTERA. 501 

bot-fly, although it comes from a much larger maggot. The 
sheep bot-fly ( Ccphalcmyia ovis) lays its eggs in the nostrils of 
sheep, and the maggots crawl from thence into the hollows in 
the bones of the forehead. Deer are also afflicted by bots pe- 
culiar to them. Our native hare, or rabbit, as it is commonly 
called, sometimes has very large bots, which live under the skin 
of his back. The fly ( Oestrus bvccatiis) is as big as our largest 
humble-bee, but is not hairy. It is of a reddish black color; 
the face and the sides of the hind body are covered with a 
bluish white bloom; there are many small black dots on the 
latter, and six or eight on the face. This fly measures seven 
eighths of an inch, or more in length, and its wings expand 
about three quarters of an inch. It is rarely seen ; and my 
only specimen was taken in the month of July, many years ago. 

At the very end of this order is to be placed a remarkable 
group of insects, which seems to connect the flies with the true 
ticks and spiders. Some of these insects have wings; but 
others have neither wings nor poisers. Of the winged kinds 
there is one [Hippobosca equina) that nestles in the hair of the 
horse; others are bird-flies [Ornithomyia), and live in the plu- 
mage of almost all kinds of birds. The wingless kinds have 
sometimes been called spider-flies, from their shape; such are 
sheep-ticks [Mellophagus ovis), and bat-ticks [Nycteribia). 
These singular creatures are not produced from eggs, in the 
usual way among insects, but are brought forth in the pupa 
state, enclosed in the egg-shaped skin of the larva, which is 
nearly as large as the body of the parent insect. This egg-like 
body is soft and white at first, but soon becomes hard and 
brown. It is notched at one end, and out of this notched part 
the inclosed insect makes its way, when it arrives at maturity. 

The flea (Ptilex), may almost be considered as a wingless 
kind of fly. Its proboscis seems to be intermediate in its for- 
mation between that of flies and of bugs; its antennsB are 
concealed in holes in the sides of its head, like those of certain 
water-bugs [Nepa and Belostoma), and somewhat resemble 
them in shape; while the transformations of the flea are not 
very much unlike those of the flies, whose maggots cast off" 
their skins on becoming pupae. 



502 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



Having now arrived at the end of my work, I have only to 
add a few remarks by way of conclusion. It has been my 
design to present to the reader a sketch of the scientific ar- 
rangement of the principal insects which are injurious to vege- 
tation, not only in New England, but in most of the United 
States. The descriptions of the insects, being drawn up in 
familiar language, will enable him to recognize them, when 
seen abroad, in all their forms and disguises. The hints and 
practical details, scattered throughout the work, it is hoped 
will serve as a guide to the selection and the application of 
the proper remedies for the depredations of the insects de- 
scribed, I regret that it has not been in my power to do full 
justice to this important subject, which is far from having 
been exhausted. My object, however, will have been fully 
attained, if this treatise, notwithstanding its many faults and 
imperfections, should be found to afford any facilities for the 
study of our native insects, and should lead to the discovery 
and the general adoption of efficient means for checking their 
ravages. 







INDEX. 










Page. 




Page. 


Abdomen, 


. 6, 8 


Anacampsis, 




393 


Achcmon hawk-moth, 


248 


" cercalella, 




392 


Acheta 


abbreviata, 


133 


" sarcitella, . 




387 


" 


nigra, 


134 


Ancylonycha, 




26 


" 


vittata, . 


. 134 


Angoumois grain-moth, 


387, 


392 


Achetadx', 


130, 131 


Anisopteryx, 




359 


Acridium hcmipterum, . 


158 


" yEscularia, 




359 


" 


sulphureum. 


154 


" pometaria, 




360 


" 


tuberculatum, 


. 153 


" vornata, . 




359 


Acronycta, 


336 


Anomala atrata, . . 




30 


Acrony 


2tians (Acronyctadsc) 


, . 336 


" cojlebs. 




29 


Acrydium, 


150, 152 


" lucicola, 




29 


" 


alutaceum, 


150 


" varians, 




29 


•' 


Aniericanum, 


. 151 


" vitis. 




25 


i( 


femorale. 


152 


Antenna;, 




7 


" 


feniur-rubrum, 


147, 151 


Anthomyia canicularis, 




494 


" 


flavo-vittatum, 


151 


" ceparum, 




495 


»' 


laterale. 


. 163 


" radicum. 




494 


it 


marginatum, 


168 


" Raphani, 




494 


«( 


olivaceum, 


. 151 


" scalaris, 




493 


" 


ornatum, . 


162 


Anthomyians ( Anthomyiadie) 




493 


" 


percgrinum, . 


146 


Antiopa butterfly, 




238 


« 


viridilasciatum, 


158 


Ants, . . 207, 209, 


405 


406 


^^geria 


Cucurbita;, 


. 253 


Ants attend plant-lice, 


207 


209 


" 


exitiosa, 


253 


Apate basillaris, . 




81 


«• 


Pyri, 


. 256 


Apatela Aceris, 




337 


«' 


tipuliformis. 


255 


" Americana, 




337 


yEgerians (.-Egoriadce), 24 


5, 246. 251 


Aphaniptera, 




16 


Aglossa 


pinguinalis. 


371 


Aphidians (Aphididae), 


177 


201 


Agrilus 


, . 


103 


Aphis, 




205 


Agriote 


s. 


49 


" Brassica, . 


, 


208 


Agrotic 


ians (Agrotididse), 


. 342 


" Caryae, 




208 


Agrotis 


a;qua, 


344 


" lanigera, . 




211 


• ( 


agricola, 


. 344 


" Persicse, 




210 


(C 


aquilina. 


. 342, 345 


•' radicum, 


, 


209 


• < 


devastator. 


. 345 


'• Iloste, 




208 


« 


inerniis. 


:i44 


•» Salicis, 


, 


209 


l( 


latens, 


. 345 


" Salicti, 




209 


It 


messoria. 


344 


Aphrophora, 


. 


196 


«' 


ocellina. 


. 345 


Apion rostrum. 




58 


t< 


segetuni, 


. 342, 344 


" Sayi, 


, 


58 


<• 


sutt'usa, . 


. 344 


Apple-tree borer. 




94 


« 


tehfera. 


344 


'• bud-moths, . 


375 


377 


<< 


tessellata, 


. 345 


" sphinx, . 




250 


«' 


Tritici, 


342 


Apple-trees injured by American 




Alaus, 




47 


blight. 


, 


211 


Alder Sphinx, 


250 


bark-lice, 


220 


, 222 


Aleppo 


galls. 


432, 434 


canker-worms, 


361 


, 369 


Alucita, 


403 


caterpillars. 


274. 


282, 


" 


cerealclla, 


392, 396 


286, 292, 294, 299 


328 


,331 


Alucitac, 


. 260, 403 


Apple-trees, other insects at- 






Araerifiaii blight, 


. 211 


tacking, . 


47 


106 


Ampel 


opsis. See Creeper. 




Apple- worm, 


. 


379 



504 



INDEX. 



Apples attacked by pl'Vim 
Apples of Sodom, 
Apricot bud-moth, . 
Aptera, . 
Arctia Acrea, 

" Americana, 

" Arge, . 

" Caja, 

" caprotina, 

" fulii^inosa, . 

" Isabella, 

" luctifera, . 

•< phalerata, 

" Phyllira, . 

" punctatLssima, 

«« rubricosa, 

" tcxtor, 

" Virginica, 

" virgo, 
Arctians (Arctiada;), : . 
Areoda lanigera, 
Army worms, 
Arrhenodes, . 
Ash- tree borers, 
Asilians (Asilida;), . 
Asilus, 

" sericeus, 
Astasia torrefacta, 
Asterias butterfly. 
Atlas moth of China, 
Attaci, 
Attacus Atlas, . 

" Cecropia, 

'• Luna, 

" Polyphemus, 

" Pi'omethca, 
Attelabians (Attelabidse) 
Attelabus analis, 

" bipustulatus. 
Azalea sphinx, . 



Page, 
•weevils, 67 
433 
378 
16 
272 
267 
26o 
267 
272 
274 
273 
277 
266 
266 
276 
274 
276 
268 
265 
263 
21 
356 
59 
252 
485 
485, 486 
485 
. 337 
232 
259, 301 
260 
259, 301 
299 
. 297 
298 
. 301 
57 
57 
58 
. 251 



•tree. 



Bacteria arumatia, 

" phyllina, 
" rubispinosa, 
Balaninus, 

Balm of (jrilead. See Poplar 
Baridius trinotatus, 
Bark-beetles, 
Bark-lice, 168. 177, 217, 220 

" enemies of, 

«' on apple-trees, 

" on grape-vines, 

" to destroy. 
Barley, injured by insects, 
Basket -worms, . . 

Batia liavifrontella, . 
Bat-ticks, 
Beach-grass, use of, first pointed 

out by Linnajus, 
Beans attacked by insects, 
Bear-caterpillars, 
Bee-flies, 
Bee-moth, 
Bees, . . . 404, 405, 



437, 



122, 
263, 



130 

130 

130 

65 

72 
76 
224 
214 
220 
224 
221 
498 
319 
388 
501 

50 
200 
268 
484 
384 
406 



. Page. 
Beeswax devoured by moth-worms, 384 
Beetles, . . .9, 20, 25 
Belostoma, . . . 501 
Bird-flies, . . . 501 
Bittacomorpha, . . .481 
Bittacus, . . . 481 
Blackberry bush, its borer, . 100 
Black fly, ... 482 
Black weevil, . . .74 
Blatta orientalis, . . 128 
Blennocampa, . . .419 
Blight, American, . . 211 
'• beetle, . . .79 
♦' of pear-trees, . 78 
Blistering beetles, . .119 
Bomboptera, . . . 424 
Bombyces, . . 260, 261 
Bombylians (Bombyliadai), . 484 
Bombylius sequalis, . . 484 
Bombyx, ... 261 
" Cossus, . . 317 
« grata, . . 330 
" iVIori, . . .295 
Borers, . . 40, 82, 251, 315 
Bostrichians (Bostrichidtc), . 81 
Bot-becs, . . .499 
Bot-flies, ... 499 
Bots, . . . .500 
Brenthians (Brenthidse), . 59 
Brenthus maxillosus, . . 59 
" septemtrionis, . 59 
Bruchians (Bruchidae), . . 54 
Bruchus pisi, . . 54 
Bud-moths, . . . 375 
Bug, plant, . . . 174 
•' squash, . . .169 
Bugs, . . 167, 168, 169 
Bulla, . . . .161 
Buprestians (Buprestidce), . 39, 102 
Buprestis characteristica, • . 43 
" dentipes, . . 43 
" divaricata, . . .42 
'♦ Drummondi, . 44 
*' femorata, . . 43 
" fulvoguttata, . 44 
" lurida, . .43 
" obscura, . . 43 
" Yirginica, . • 42 
Butalis, . . . 393 
cerealella, . 388, 392, 399 
Butterflies, . . . 229, 230 
" four-footed, . . 236 
Button-wood caterpillars, 280, 310 
Button-wood trees bored by wood- 
wasps, . . . 426 

Cabbage butterfly, . . 233 

" caterpillar, . . 233, 350 • 

" cut-worm, 343, 345, 347 

" plant-louse, . 208 
Cabbages injured by caterpillars, 350 

Calandra, . . . 61, 73 

" granaria, . . 73 

" Oryzae, . . 74 



INDEX. 



505 







P 


age. 






P 


age. 


Callidium, 






87 


Ccrura, 






325 


Callidium bnjulus, 






88 


Cerura borcalis, 






326 


" violaccum. 






88 


" furcula, 






326 


Callimorpha Lecoiitei, . 






264 


Cetonia barbata. 






35 


" niilitaris, 






264 


" ercmicola, 






37 


Calliphora vomitoria, 






492 


" Inda, 






35 


Calo-ioina scrut;itor, . 






367 


Cetonians (Cetoniadac), 






34 


Camel -cfickets, . 






129 


Chaleidians (Chalcididac), 




433, 


436 


Cancphorffi, . 






318 


Chafers, 






22 


Canker-worm, 






359 


Chalcophora, 






42 


Caiitharides ( Cantharididsc), 




119 


Charyeas graminis. 






342 


Cautharis atrata, 






123 


Cheese- maggots. 






493 


" cinerea, 






122 


Chci natobia brumata, 






359 


" marginata, 






121 


Cherry-tree slug. 






418 


" vittata, 




121 


123 


" sphinx, . 






250 


Capricorn-beetles, 


82, 85, 


102 


" (wild), its borer, 




42 


Capsus oblineatus, 






174 


" caterpillars. 


286, 


324 


328 


Caradriiia cubif ularis, 




, 


352 


Chinch bug, 






172 


Carolina sphinx, 






247 


CHiionea valga, 






482 


Carpenter- moths, 




. 


317 


Chlarays gibbosa. 






119 


Carjict-raoth, 






387 


Chloealtis, 






160 


Carpocapsa Pomonella, . 




. 


379 


Chlorops glabra. 






498 


(-'arrot caterpillars. 






230 


" pumilionis, 






498 


Cassida aurichalcea. 




. 


107 


Chosrocampa, 






249 


Cassiladse, 






107 


" Choerilus, 






251 


Caterpillars are the j'oun 


g of but- 




" Pampinatrix 






250 


tcrflies and moths, 


225 


" versicolor, 






251 


'* described. 


, 




226 


Chrysalids, 






6 


♦' false. 




, 


408 


Chrysobothris, 




43, 44 


" food of, 






225 


Chrysomela, 






108 


" habits of, . 






225 


" cffiruleipennis 


, . 




118 


" injurious to 


gardens. 


268 


" Polygoni, 






118 


" numbers of. 






225 


" scalaris, . 






117 


" spiny. 






2;i7 


" trimaculata. 






117 


'* transformations o 


f, 4 


227 


" vitivora. 






115 


" wheat, . 




352 


354 


Chrysomelians (Chrysomeladaj), 


108, 


Cccidomyia, . 440, 


441, 


454 


466 








116 


" culmicola, 






465 


Chrysopa perla, 






215 


" destructor. 


450, 


452 


465 


Chryrrops fcrrugatus, 






484 


" Ivobinige, 






452 


" vittatus, 






484 


S;dicis, 




450 


451 


Cicada, 




125, 


178 


Tritici, 352 


450, 


470 


474 


" canicularis, 






190 


CecidomyiadiE, . 






450 


" jjruinosa. 






190 


Cedar (red), insects attacking. 




77 


" Kosa>, 






199 


Cclastrus, 




, 


195 


" srptendecim. 






180 


Celtis sphinx. 


. 




250 


" seventeen -year, 




178, 


180 


Cephalemyia ovis, 




. 


501 


Cicadians (Cicadadaj), 




177 


17S 


Cephus, 


. 




408 


C'imbex Americana, 




, 


410 


pygmseus, 




. 


409 


Ulmi, 






410 


Ceranibycidae, 


82, 84, 85 


Cinara, . 




, 


208 


Ceramliyx, 






84 


Clear-winged sphinx, 






251 


' cinctus, 






86 


Clematis attacked by insects. 




121 


" palliatus, 




, 


101 


Clisiocampa Americana, 






289 


" violaceus. 


. 




88 


" castrensis. 


287, 


2S9 


292 


Corajihron destructor, 




. 


46'J 


" Neustria, 287, 


288 


289 


292 


Ceras,)horus, 


. 




86 


" silvatica, 




. 


291 


Ceratocamj)a regalis. 






307 


( lostera Americana, 


, 




334 


Cerarocampians ((.'eratocampadte). 


30-i 


•' aiiastamosis, 




^ 


334 


Ceiatomia quadncornis. 






247 


(Uothes-moth, 






387 


Cercn- ididaj, 






li)6 


Clover-worms, 




. 


354 


Cercoi'is igninecta. 






196 


(Hypeus, 


^ 




20 


" ohtu^a, 


, 




196 


Clythra dominicana. 




, 


119 


'' parallela, 






196 


quadriguttata, 






119 


'* quadranguLaris, 






196 


Clytus flexuosus, 




. 


90 



64 



506 



INDEX. 



Page. 
Clytus Hayii, . . 90 
" pictus, . . 90, 315 
" speciosus, . . 89 
Cocciclce, . . 177, 217 
Coccinella, . . . 214 
" noveranotata, . 215 
Coccus, . . . 217 
" Adonidum, . . 218 
" arborum linearis, . 220 
" Cacti, . . .218 
•' conchiformis, . 220 
" cryptogamus, . . 222 
" Hesperidum, . 218 
Cochenille, . . 217, 218 
Cock-chafer, . . 23 
Cockroaches, . . 127, 128 
Codling-moth, . . 379 
Coenornvia pallida, . . 487 
Coleoptcra, . , . 9, 20 
Columbine roots destroyed by cat- 
erpillars, . . . 340 
Comma bvi-terfly, . . 241 
Conocephalus dissimilis, . 143 
" ensiger, . 142 
Conopians (Conopida;), . . 489 
Conops nigricornis, . . 489 
" sagittaria, . . 489 
Conotrachclus Nenuphar, . 66, 379 
" variegatus, . 60 
Coreus, lineolaris, . . 174 
" moestus, . . 169 
" ordinatus, . . 169 
" rugator, . . .169 
" tristis, . . 169 
Corn attacked by spindle-worms, 339 
dcstroy;_-dby cateri)illars, 266, 269 
destroyed by cut-worms, 343, 346 
motlis, 
weevil, 
worms, 
CossTis ligniperda, 

" llobiniae, 
Cotton-worms, 
CrambidfE, 
Cranberry- worms, 
Creeper attacked by insects, 



Crickets, 

Criocerians (Crioceridida;), 

Crioceris bipustulata, 

" Rtriolata, . 

" trihneata, . 

" vittata, 
Cryptocephalians (Crvptoce 

dae), 
Cryptotephalus luridus. 
Cuckoo-spit, 
Cucuio, . 
Cucumber-beetle, 
Cucumbers, insects attackin 



Curculio, 



gran anus, 
hilaris, 



399 

73, 74 

391, 398 

317 
. 316 

356 
383, 384 

382 
194, 249, 

258 
130, 131 

104 

114 
. 113 

104 

109 



phali- 

119 

119 

192, 196 

48 

109 

109, 111, 

112 

61, 66 

73 

61 



Page. 

Curculio Nenuphar, . . 66 

" Oryza?, . . 74 

" pales, , . .61 

Curculionida;, . . 61 

Currant-bush borer, . 255, 256 

Cut-worms, . . . 341 

Cynipida;, . . 431, 437 

Cynips, . . . 431 

«' bicolor, . . .435 

" confluens, . . 433 

" dichlocerus, . . 435 

" gallte tinctorial, . 433 

" nubilipennis, . . 434 

" oneratus, . . 434 

" seminator, . . 434 

" seraipiceus, . . 436 

Cynthia Atalanta, . . 243 

" Cardui, . . 243 

Dahlia attacked by spindle-worms, 339 

Deilephila Chama^nerii, . 251 

" lineata, . .251 

Defopeia bella, . . 262 

" pulchella, . . 263 

Delta-moths, . . 371 

Dermajitera, . . .16 

Desmocerus palliatus, . 101 

Diapheromera, . . . 130 

Dicerca, . . .42, 43 

Dicranura, . . . 325 

Diplolepis, . . 431, 233, 434 

Diptera, . . . 12, 447 

Ditula angustiorana, . 378 

Dog's-bane beetle, . .118 

Dor-bug, ... 27 

Dors, ... 22, 25 

Drop- worms, . . 319 

Dryocampa imperialis, . . 309 

" pellucida, . 313 

" rubicunda, . . 313 

" senatoria, . 312 

" stigma, . .312 

Dung-flies, . . . 496 



Earwigs, 

Elaphidion, . 

Elater appressifrons, 
" brcvicornis, 
" cinereus, . 
" communis, 
" noctilucus, 
" obesus, 
" occulatus, 

Elaterida;, 

Elder, its borer, . 

Elm caterpillars. 

Elms, insects attackin 



127 

86 
48 
49 
48 
48 
48 
49 
47 
45 
101 

238, 240, 242, 274 
99, 109, 117 



Elm-tree, false caterpillars on it, 410 

" sphinx-caterpillar, 247 

Elm-trees bored by wood-wasps, 426 
" destroyed by canker- 
worms, . . 361, 369 

Empoa, ... 199 

Encyrtus, . . . 421 



INDEX. 



507 



Erebus Strix, 
Eriosoma, 
Eristalis sinccrus, 
Ermine moths, 
Erythroneura, 
Euchaetes Egle, 
Eudamus, 

" Tityrus, 
Eudryas grata, 
" unio, 
Eumenes, 

" fraterna, 
Eumoplus auratus, 
Euplexoptera, 
Eurytoma, 

" destructor, 

" Hordei, 

Eyes of insects. 



Page. 

259 

. 211,213 

. 488 

263, 265, 268 

199 

277 

. 243 

243 

. 330 

330 

. 489 

367 

. 118 

16 

. 437, 444, 469 

469 

439, 442 

7 



False caterpillars, . . 408 
Feather-winged moths, . 403 
Fir saw-fly, . . .114 
Fir-trees attacked by moths, 378 
" destroyed by wood-wasps, 424 
Fire-beetle, ... 48 
Flea-beetles, . . .111 
Flea tribe, . . .16,501 
Flesh-fly, . . .491 
Flies, . . . 447 
" flower, , . .493 
" golden-eyed, . . 484 
" how excluded from houses, 493 
" parasitic, . . 490 
Flower -beetles, . . 21, 34 
Flower-flies, . . 493 
Fly, dung, . . .496 
" flesh, . . . 492 
" golden-eyed lace-winged, . 215 
" hammer-headed, . 498 
" Hessian, . . 450, 452 
" house, ... 492 
" meat, . . . 492 
" radish, . . . 494 
•' stable, . . .491 
" viviparous, . . 491 
" wheat, . . . 470 
Fly-weevil that destroys wheat, 396 
Forest-flies, . . . 484 
Forflcula, . . . 128 
Frit-fly, . . . .498 
Frog-hoppers, . . 192, 196 
Fruit, weevils in, . 65, 67, 379 
Fruit-flies, . . . 497 
Fruit-maggots, . . . 497 
Fruit moth, ... 379 
Fruit-trees injured by beetles, 27, 31, 37 
canker- 
worms, . . .361 

cicadas,- 185 

Fur-moth, . . .387 

Gad-flies, ... 483 

Galeruca Calmariensis, . 109,118 

" vittata, . . 109 



Galerucians (Galerucadie), 
Galleria cereana. 
Gall-flies, four- winged, 
" two-winged, 
Gall-snats, 



Galls, 



Page. 

. 109 

384 

431, 436 

497 

450, 451 



408, 432, 436, 497 



Gasterophilus equi, . . 500 

" h«morrhoidalis, 500 

" veterinus, . 500 

Gastropacha Americana, . 293 

" Ilicitblia, . . 293 

" Velleda, . 293 

Geometers (Geometrae), . 356 

Geometra catenaria, . 358 

Geometraj, . . 260, 356 

Glaucopidians (Glaucopididse), 246, 257 



Glaucopis Pholus, 
Gnat, snow, . 
" wheat, 
" wingless, 
Gnats, 

" long-legged, 
" gall, 
Gnophria vittata. 
Goat-moths, 
Goldsmith-beetle, 
Golden-rod, insects on, 
Goliah-beetle, 
Gonocerus, 
Gortyna flavago, 
" leucostigma, 
" Zeae, 
Grain-moths, . 
Grain-weevil, 
Grain-worms, 
Grape-vine caterpillars, 
" leaf-hopper, 

" Procris, . 

sphinx. 



261 
482 
470, 474 
482 
447, 448, 449, 450 
481 



. 450 

262 

. 317 

21 

90, 122 

35 

. 171 

341 

. 341 

340 

387, 390 

73 

352, 473 

218, 249, 329 

198 

257 

248, 249 

224 



Grape-vines injured by bark-lice, 
by false-cater- 
pillars, . . . 413 

■ by other insects, 

22, 29, 31, 114 
Graspers, . . 127. 129 



Grasshopper, its growth and chang 


es, 5 


" See Locust. 






Grasshoppers, 


130 


136 


" are locusts. 


, 


125 


Gray worm, . 




352 


Grease.moth, 


^ 


371 


Ground-beetles, 




21 


Grouse-locust, 


, 


161 


Grubs, 


■ 


), 20 


GryllidiE, 


130 


136 


Gryllotalpa brevipennis. 




131 


" didactyla, . 


, 


132 


Gryllus, 




130 


" bivittatus. 


, 


151 


" chrysomelas, 




158 


" equalis, . 


. 


155 


" erythropus, . 




152 


" maculatus. 


, 


137 


" migratorius, 


146, 


152 



508 




INDEX. 








Page. 1 




Page. 


Gryllus sulphureus, 


. 


154 


Hylobius picivorus. 




62 


" Virginianus, 




158 


Hylurgus dentatus, . 




77 


Gymnodus scaber, . 


. 


36 


" terebrans. 




76 








Hymenoptera, 


11, 


404 


Hackberry sphinx, . 




250 


Hypena Humuli, 




373 


Hag -moth, 




325 


" rostralis. 




373 


Hair-moth, 




387 


Uyphantria, 




276 


Haltica chalybea, 


, 


114 


Hypogymna dispar, . 




282 


" Cucumeris, . 




112 








" fuscula. . 


. 


112 


lassus Rosse, 




199 


" pubescens, 




112 


Ichneumones minuti, 




437 


" striolata, 


, 


113 


Ichneumon-flies, 64, 288, 


431, 


427, 


HalticadiE, 




111 




437, 


469 


Hare bot-fly, 


. 


501 


Insects, structure of. 




3 


Harlequin caterpillars, 




276 


" are produced from eggs, 


3 


Harnessed moth, 


. 


266 








Harpy-fly, 




492 


Joint-worm, 


441 


443 


Harvest-flies, . 125, 16i 


5, 177, 


178 


Jumpers, 


127 


130 


" dog-day, 




190 








" frosted. 


. 


190 


Kalmia sphinx, . 


, 


250 


leaping. 




191 


Katy-did, 




138 


Hawk-moths, 


229, 


245 


Kermes, . 


. 


217 


Hazel-nut weevil. 




65 


Knot-grass beetle. 




118 


Hedge-hog caterpillar, . 


. 


273 








Hegemon Goliatus, . 




35 


I,achnus, 


, 


208 


Hcmiptera, 


10 


167 


Lackey caterpillars, . 




287 


" heteroptera. 


168 


169 


Lady -birds. 


214 


215 


" horaoptera, . 


168 


177 


Lamia titillator. 




93 


Hcmiptycha, 




193 


Laphria, 




486 


Hepialidtc, 


, 


313 


" flavibarbis, . 




484 


Hepiolus argenteomaculatus, 




315 


" tergissa. 


. 


484 


" Humuli, 


. 


314 


" thoracica. 




484 


Herminians (Herminiadcc), 




372 


Lappet caterpillars. 




292 


Hesperiadse, 


, 


242 


Larva, 




5 


Hessian fly, . 


450 


452 


Lasiocampa Dumeti, 


. 


285 


Hickory borers, . 


40. 43. 86 


" processionea. 




304 


" caterpillars. 


278 


297 


" Qucrcus, 


. 


285 


" plant-louse. 


, 


208 


" Koboris, 




285 


Hippobosca equina, . 




501 


" Hubi, 


. 


285 


Hispa marginata, 


. 


106 


" Trifolii, . 




285 


" quadrata, 




106 


Lasiocampians (Lasiocampadse), 


285 


" rosea, 


, 


106 


Lasioptera, 




454 


" suturalis, 




107 


Laurel sphinx, 


, 


250 


Hispadffi, 


, 


105 


Laverna, 




393 


Hog-caterpillar, 


249 


251 


Leaf-beetles, 


. 


103 


Homalomyia sealaris, 


, 


493 


Leaf- hoppers, 


192 


, 196 


Homaloptera, 




16 


Leaf-rollers, 




374 


Homoptera, . , 1 


7, 168 


, 177 


Lepidoptera, . 11 


225 


, 228 


Honey-dew, . 




207 


Leptura, 


. 


84 


Hop-vine caterpillars, 235, 2A 


0,241 


,372 


" picta. 




90 


" Hepiolus, . 




314 


" Kobiniffi, 


. 


90 


Horn-bugs, 


, 


37 


Lepturians (Lcpturadae), 


84 


, 101 


Horn -tailed wood- wasps. 


. 12 


, 422 


Lilac sphinx. 


, 


250 


Horse-bnt, 


, 


500 


Limacodes, 




322 


]Iorsech(-stnut caterpillars, 




283 


" cippus. 




323 


Horse-flies, 


, 


483 


" Delphinii, 




323 


House-fly, 




492 


" pitheclum, 


. 


324 


Humming-bird moths, . 


245 


252 


" scapha, 




323 


Hybeniia det'oliaria. 




370 


Lime or linden tree insects, 


97. 


117, 


" Tiliaria, 


, 


370 


240 


337 


, 369 


Hybernians (Hyberniada?), 




358 


Linnaeus, anecdote respecting 




50 


Hydrocampa, 


, 


372 


" made natural history 


useful, 49 


Hyleccetus Americanus, 




51 


Liparians (Liparidae), 


. 


281 


Hylobius, 


. 


61 


Liparis, 




281 



INDEX. 



509 





Page. 


Lithosia quadra, 


. 263 


Lithosians (Lithosiadsc), 


126 


Locust, . 


. 145 


" grouse, 


161 


" (Cicada), 


. 178 



Locusts, . 125, 130, 143, 152 

Locust-tree butterfly, . . 244 

" caterpillar, . 244 

" boring caterpillars, 315 

" other insects upon it, 

59, 90. 107, 193, 452 
Locust (honey) attacked by insects, 122 



Locusta, 


150, 152 


" abortiva. 


160 


" ijequalis. 


155 


" agilis, 


141 


" Carolina, 


. 153 


" conspersa, . 


160 


" corallina. 


153 


" curtipennis, 


160 


" curvicauda, 


140 


" eucerpta. 


156 


" I'asciata, 


142 


•' infuscata, , 


158 


" latipennis, 


. 155 


" laurifolia, 


139 


" leucostoma, 


. 155 


■" maritima. 


154 


" marmorata, 


. 156 


" migratoria, . 


146, 152 


" nebulosa. 


. 157 


" oblongifolia. 


139 


" perspicillata, 


139 


" radiata, 


159 


" sulphurea, 


. 154 


" viridi-fasciata, 


158 


Locustada;, 


130, 143 


Loopers, 


356 


Lophocampa Caryte, 


. 279 


'• maculata, 


279 


" tessellaris, 


263, 280 


Lophyrus Abbotii, 


411 


" Abietis, 


. 411 


" Aniericanus, 


411 


" compar. 


. 411 


Loxotffinia Kosaceana, 


376 


Lozotaenia oporana. 


. 376 


Lucanians (Lucanida;), 


37 


Lucanus Capreolus, 


39 


" Dama, 


39 


Lucilia Cajsar, 


. 492 


Ludius, 


48 


Lycenians (Lycajnada;), 


. 235 


Lyda, 


408 


LygHcus leucopterus. 


. 172 


Lymexylidae, 


50 


Lymexylon navale. 


50 


" sericeum, 


51 


Lytta atrata. 


. 123 


" cinerea, 


122 


" vittata, 


. 121 


Macrodactylus subspinosa. 


30 


Maggot, its transformations, 


5 



Page. 

Maggots, . . • 448 

" in cheese, . . 498 

" in fruit, . 497 

" in the human body, 493 

" in meat, . . 491,492 

" in radishes and turnips, 494 

" in roots, . . 485 

" rat- tailed, . . 488 

" wheat, . 470, 473, 498 

Maraestra picta, . . 351 

Mantes, . . . 127, 129 

Maple caterpillars, . . 337 

Maple (sugar), its borer, . 89 

Marshes, salt, insects injuring, 147 

May-beetles, . . 22, 27, 341 

May-flies, . . . 11, 372 

Meadows injured by insects, 24, 27, 49 

Meal-moth, . . .371 

Mealy-bug, . . . 218 

Melanotus, . . .48 

Meilophagus Ovis, . . 501 

Moloe angusticollis, . .124 

Melolontha, . . . 22, 28 

" subspinosa, . . 30 

" variolosa, . 28 

Melolonthians (Melolonthadse), 23 

Membracidse, . . 192 

Membracis acuminata, . .193 

" Ampelopsidis, . 192, 195 

" bimaculata, . 192, 193 

" binotata, . 192, 195 

bubalus, . . 192 

" camelus, . 192 

« Cissi, . . 195 

" concava, . . 192 

" diceros, . . 192 

" emarginata, . 192 

" latipes, . . 192 

" sinuata, . . 192 

" taurina, . .192 

" univittata, . 192, 194 

" vau, . . .192 

Metamorphoses, . . 4 

Midas filatus, . . . 486 

Midges, . . . 450, 483 

Milesia excentrica, . . 488 

Milk-weed beetle, . . Il7 

" caterpillars, . . 276 

Millers, . . . 259, 268 

Mole-cricket, . . .131 

Monohammus, . . 93 

Mosquito, its transformations, . 4 

Mosquitos, . . 447, 448, 449 

Moth, origin of the word, . 382 

Moths, . . . 229, 259 

'* in houses, how destroyed, 389 

Moth-worms, . . 382, 383, 388 

Muck-worm, . . 27 

Musca Caesar, . . . 492 

" domestica, . . 492 

" Harpyia, . . .492 

" vomitoria, . . 492 

Muscans (Muscadae), . . 490 

Mustard butterfly, . . 233 



510 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Mustard caterpillar, . . 233 

Mvdetophilse, . . 449 

Mydas filata, . . . 486 

Myopa nigripennis, . 489 

Myrtle bark-louse, . . 218 

Nemobius, . . . 134 

Nepa, . . . .501 

Nettle butterfly, . . 243 

Neuroptera, . . .11 

Neuter insects, . . 40-5 

Noctua clandestina, . . 348 

" devastator, . . 345 

" xyliiia, . . . 356 

Noctuffi, . . . 260, 335 

Nonagrians (Nonagriadaj), . 338 

Notodonta coneinna, . 329 

" unicornis, . . 327 

Notodontians (Notodontadae), 321 

Nutgalls, . . .432 

Nut-weevil, ... 65 

Nycteribia, . . .501 

Oak-apples, . . . 433 

Oak-pruner, . . .86 

Oak-caterpillars, 291, 298, 306, 311, 319 

Oak-gallflies, . . 433, 434 

Oaks, insects attacking, 44, 61, 181, 194 

Oberea, . . . .100 

Ocelli. ... 7 

Qicanthus niveus, . .135 

CEcuphora granelia, . . 393 

QEdipoda, . . .152 

" discoidea, . . 153 

" fenestralis, . 153, 157 

CEstrians (CEstridie), . 499 

ffistrus bovis, . . . 500 

" buccatus, . . 501 

Oiketikus, . . .318 

Oil-beetles, . . . 123 

Omaloplia sericea, . . 29 

" vespertina, . 29 

Onion-fly, . . . 495 

Onions destroyed by maggots, 495 

Orchelimum gracile, . 142 

" vulgare, . . 142 

Orgyia antiqua, . . 284 

" leucostigma, . . 284 

Ornithomyia, . . 501 

Ortalidians (Ortalididae, . 497 

Orthoptera, . . . 10, 125 

" ambulatoria, 127, 129 

" cursoria, . 127 

" raptatoria, . 127, 129 

" saltatoria, . 127, 130 

Oryssus, . . . .429 

" affinis, . . 430 

" htemorrhoidalis, . 430 

" maurus, . . 430 

" Sayii, . . , 430 

" terminalis, . . 430 

Oscinians (Oscinidae), . . 498 

Osciuis frit, . . . 493 

" lineata, . . . 493 

Osmoderma eremicola, . 37 





Page. 


Osmoderraa scaber. 


, 


36 


Ourapteryx Sambucaria, 




358 


Owl -moth, great. 


. 


259 


Owlet-moths, . . 




335 


Ox bot-fly. 


, 


500 


Oxya, 




151 


Pack-moth, 




387 


Palpi. 




7 


Pandoleteius, 


, 


61 


Papillo Asterias, 




232 


Papiliones, 


^ 


229 


Parsley-caterpillars, . 




230 


Parsley-worms, . 


, 


230 


Pea- weevil, . 




54 


Peach-tree borer. 




253 


" plant-lice, 


204 


210 


" Thrips, 




204 


Pear-tree borer. 




256 


slug, . 




418 


Pear-trees bored by wood-wasps. 


424 


" injured by bark -lice, 


222 


•* other insects attacking, 




21, 78, 


187 


201 


Pears, worms in. 




382 


Pease, insects attacking. 




54 


Pectinated antennas. 




257 


Pelidnota punctata, 




22 


Penthina comitana, . 




377 


" luscana, . 




377 


" oculana. 




377 


Perophora Melsheimerii, 




319 


Petrophila, 




372 


Phalaina Aceris, . 




337 


" anastomosis, 




335 


" brumata, 




359 


" vernata. 




359 


Phalsenaj, 


229 


259 


Phalangopsis maculata, 




137 


Phaneroptera angustifolia. 




140 


Philampelus Achemon, 




248 


" Satellitia, . 




248 


Phryganeadaj, 




372 


Phyllium pulchrifoliura, 




129 


'* siccitblium, 




129 


Phyllophaga fraterna, . 




28 


" Georgicana, 




28 


" hirticula, . ■ 




28 


" piiosicollis. 




28 


" quercina, . 




26 


Phylloptera oblongifolia. 




139 


Phytocoris lineolaris. 




174 


Piercer, 


8, 


404 


Piercers, 




404 


Pirapla atrata, 




427 


" lunator, . 




427 


Pine saw-flies, . 




411 


Pine-tree sphinx. 




250 


Pine-trees attacked by moths. 




378 


by wood-wasps 


, 


423, 


427, 


428 


• other insects at 


- 


tacking them, 42, 44, 6 


2, 63 


,75, 


76, 77, 78, 87 


,89, 


102 







INDEX. 


511 




Page. 




Page. 


Piophila casei, 


. 


498 


Pyropa furcata, . 


496 


Pissodes, 




63 


Pyrophorus, . 


48 


Plant-bug, 




174 






Plant-lice, . 168, 177 


201 


205 


Iladish-fly, 


494 


" cabbage, 


. 


208 


Radishes, injured by maggots, 


494 


" downy, 




211 


llh;i])hitelus, 


469 


" hickory, 


. 


208 


Khagium lineatum, . 


102 


" leaping, . 




201 


}{hipiptora, 


15 


" peach-tree, . 


204 


210 


Khubarb-root maggots. 


485 


" ro*e, 




208 


Khyncha;nus, 


61 


" willow, 


. 


208 


" Argula, 


66 


" on roots, . 




209 


" Cerasi, 


69 


" how to destroy, 


213 


214 


" nasicus. 


65 


" their enemies. 




214 


" nemorensis, 


63 


Platygaster, 


368 


469 


" Nenuphar, 


66, 379 


Platyoniides, 




375 


•' Strobi, 


63 


Platyphyllum concavura, 




139 


Rhynchites bicolor, . 


58 


Plum-tree caterpillars, 


326 


328 


Rhynchophorida?, 


52 


slugs. 


. 


419 


Rhyparochromus devastator, 1 


72, 173 


" warts, 


. 


69 


Rice-weevil, 


73 


Plum -weevil, 


65 


379 


Rose-bud moths, . . 3 


75, 378 


Pcccilochroma comitana. 




377 


Rose-bug, 


30 


Pontia oleracea, , 




233 


Rose-bush galls, 


435 


Poplar-tree caterpillars, 238, 


325 


333 


" leaf-hopper, . 


• 199 


Poplars, other insects attackin 


g, 85, 93 


" plant-louse. 


208 


Porthesia aurifiua. 




282 


" slug, 


415 


" chrysorrhaea, . 




282 


" attacked by beetles. 


29, 30, 


Potato-fly, . 


121 


123 




58 


Potato-rot, 71,104,113, 


121, 


174, 


Rtmners, 


127 


21.5, 


340, 


495 


Rustic-moths, 


342 


Potato -vines, insects attacking 


, 


104, 


Rutilians (Rutiladee), 


22 


120, 122, 124, 173, 


246, 


340 






Potato-worm, 




246 


Sack-bearer, . 


319 


Potato (sweet), insects on, . 




107 


Salt-marsh caterpillars, . 


, 269 


Potter-wasp, 


, 


367 


Sand-flies, 


483 


Prioiiians (Prionidre), 




84 


Saperda, 


93 


Prion us brevicornis, 


, 


84 


" bivittata. 


94 


" cylindricus, 




85 


" calcarata, 


93 


" laticollis. 


, 


84 


" Candida, 


94 


" unicolor. 




85 


" carcharias, 


94 


Procris Americana, 


, 


257 


" tridentata, . 


98 


" ampelophaga, 




257 


" tripunctata. 


100 


" Titis, 


. 


257 


" Vestita, 


96 


Progne butterfly. 




241 


Sarcophaga Georgina, 


491 


Psilura monacha. 




282 


Sarcophagans, 


491 


Psyche, 




318 


Sargus, . 


488 


Psychians (PsychadEe), . 


. 


318 


Sassafras-tree caterpillars, . 


300 


Psylla, 




201 


Satellitia hawk-moth. 


248 


" Pyri, 




203 


Saturnia lo. 


304 


Pteromalus, . . 402, 


442 


469 


" Maia, 


305 


" Vanessse, 


. 


240 


" Proserpina, 


305 


Pterophoridae, 




403 


Saturnians (SaturniadBe), 


295 


Pterophorus, 


. 


403 


Saw-flies, 


407 


Ptychoptera clavipes, 




481 


Saw-horned beetles. 


39 


Pulex, . 


, 


501 


Scarabfflians (Scarabseidae), . 


20 


Pulicidse, 




16 


Scarabseus Indus, 


35 


Pupa, 


. 


6 


♦' relictus, . 


27 


Puparium, 




459 


Scarlet grain. 


217 


Purslane sphinx. 


. 


251 


Scatomyians ( Scatomyzadse), 


496 


Pygicra ministra. 




332 


Scatophaga furcata. 


496 


Pyralides, 


260 


371 


" postilena, 


496 


Pyralis farinalis. 




371 


Scientific names useful, 


17 


" Pomana, 


, 


379 


Scolytidae, 


76 


Pyrgota undata, 




489 


Scolytus destructor, 


76 



512 



INDEX. 



Scolytus Pyri, 

" terebrans, 

Scutel, 

Scymnus, 

Selandria barda, 
" pygmaja, 
" liosa;, 
" Vitis, 



295, 
201, 



230, 



408, 



(Blennocampa) ^thiops, 
'• Cerasi, 

Semicolon butterfly, 
Sericaria, 
Sesia diffinis, 

" pelasgus, 
Sesiae, 

Shagbark. See "Walnut 
Sheep bot-fly, 

" ticks, • 
Silk, native. 
Silk-worm, 
Siraaethis, 

Simulium molestum, 
" nocivum, 

Siphonapteia, 
Sirex Columba, . 
Sitophilus, 
Skippers, 
Sliig-caterpillars, 
Slug worm, 
Slugs, 
Smerinthi, 
Smerinthus, . 

" cxcaecata, 

" Juglandis, 

" myops, 

Snout-beetles, 
Snow-gnat, 
Sodom, apples of. 
Soldier -flies. 
Soothsayers, . 
Spanish-flies, 
Span-worms, 
Spectrum bivittatum, 
" femoratum, 

Sphecomyia undata, 

" valida, . 

Sphex, 

Sphex-flies, . 
Sphinges, 
Sphinx Carolina, 

" einerea, . 

" coniferarum, 

•' drupiferarum, 

*' Gordius, 

" Hylaeus, 

" Kalmia?, 

" quinquemaculatus, 
SphyracephalH brevicornis, . 
Spider-flies, 
Spilonota comitana, . 
Spindle-worm, 
S[)inners, 
Spring -beetles, . 
Squash- bug, . 



413, 



127, 



229, 



80 
76 
20 
215 
415 
415 
415 
415 
418 
419 
239 
281 
251 
251 
245 

501 
501 
302 
295 
371 
482 
483 

16 
425 

73 
242 
323 
4)8 
414 
246 
250 
250 
250 
250 

61 
482 
433 
487 
129 
119 
356 
130 
130 
489 
489 
489 
489 
245 
247 
200 
250 
250 
250 
250 
250 
247 
497 
501 
377 
339 
261 

45 
169 



Squash-vine .^geria, 
Squash- vines, insects injuring, 
Stag-beetles, . 
Star-wort gall-fly, 
Stenocorus, . 

" cinctus, 

" cyaueus, . 

*' garganicus, 

" lineatus, . 

" putator. 

Sting, 
Stingers, . 

Stinging caterpillars, 
Stomoxys calcitrans, 
Storthygocerus, 
Stratiomyadffi, . . 

Stratiomys, 
Strepsiptera, 
Suture, 

Syrphians (Syrphidce), . 
Syrphus, 



150 



Tabanus atratus, . 
" cinctus, . 
" lineola, 
Tachina, 

" vivida, . 
Tachinac'ae, 
Tapestry-moth, . 
Tarsi, 

Tent-making caterpillars, 
Tenthredinidse, 
Tcnthredo Cerasi, 
Tephritis Asteris, 
Tetrix, 

" bilineata, 

'* dorsalis, . 

" lateralis, 

" ornaia, 

" parvipennis, . 

" quadrlmaculata, . 

•' sordida, 
Tettigonia, . • 

•' Fabse, 

" Kosa;, 

" Vitis, 

Tettigoniadse, 
Tettix, 
Thecla Favonius, 

" Humuli, 
Thistle butterfly, 
Thola, 

Thorn hedges injured by caterpil- 
lars, . 
Thrips, 

" cerealium, 
Thysanoptera, 
Tib'ia, 

Tigpr moths, . . . 263, 265 

Timber beetles, . . .50 

Tinea crinella, . . 387 

" destructor, . . 388 

" flavifrontella, . . 388 

•' granella, . . 387, 390 



Page. 

252 

169, 252 

37 
497 

86 

86 
101 

86 
102 



5,404 
404 
303 
491 
469 
487 
488 
15 
107 
488 
216 

483 
483 
483 
368 
490 
490 
387 
8 
286 
407 
418 
498 

, 161 
162 
162 
163 
162 
163 
162 
162 
197 

, 201 
199 

, 199 
196 
197 
235 
235 
243 
217 

285 

204 

205 

17 



199 



198 



INDEX. 



513 





I 


age. 






Page. 


Tinea Hordei, 




393 


Vaporer moths. 


. 


284 


" mellonella, 




384 


Vine saw-fly. 




. 413 


'* pelliouella, 




387 


Virgin's bower, insects on 


J ' 


121 


" Pomonella, 




379 


Visor, 




21 


" tapetzella, 




387 








" vestianella, 




387 


Walkers, 




127, 129 


TinccB, 


. 200 


382 


Walking leaves, . 




. 129 


Tineans (Tineadiu), 


383 


387 


Walnut-tree beetles. 




81 


Tityrus skipper, 




243 


" caterpillars. 


297 


307, 323 


Tomicus exesus, 


. 


77 


" sphinx. 




. 250 


" liminaris, 




78 


Wasps, 


404 


405, 406 


Pini, . 


, 


78 


Wax-moth, 




. 384 


Pyri, 




80 


Wax- work plant attacked 


by ] 


nsects. 


Tortoise-beetles, . 




107 






195 


Tortiices, 


. 260 


37o 


Web-worms, 




. 274 


Tortrix cereana, . 




384 


Weevils, 


18, 52, 473 


Torymus, 


. 442 


445 


" black, . 




74 


Trachypteris, 




44 


" brown, 




352 


Tragocephala, 




158 


Wheat injured by insects. 


73, 


172, 205, 


Transformations, 




4 


352, 390, 392, 441, 453, 


464, 


470, 498 


" imperfect. 




127 


Wheat-caterpLllar, 




352, 354 


Tree-beetles, 


2 


1, 22 


Wheat-flies, . 


450, 


470, 498 


Tree-hoppers, 




192 


Wheat-moths, 




390, 392 


Tremex Columba, 




425 


Wheat-weevil, 




73 


Trichius scabev, 




36 


Wheat-worm, 




. 352 


Trichoptera, 




16 


Whortleberry sphinx. 




250 


Trochilium denudatxim. 




252 


Willow caterpillars, 




238, 325 


Turnip butterfly. 




233 


" gall- gnat. 


. 


451 


" caterpillar. 




233 


" plant-louse. 




. 209 


" fly, 


111 


115 


Willow-herb sphinx. 




251 


" insects. 


11, 115, 


493 


Windsor bean attacked by 


insects, 


'Tui-pentine-moths, 




379 






122, 200 


Tussock moths, 


. 279 


282 


Wire-worms, 
Wood-wasps, 


45 


341, 348 
422 


Unicorn moth, 




327 


Woolly bears. 




. 263 


UroceridiB, 




422 








Ui-ocerus abdominalis, . 


. 


428 


Xenos Peckii, 


. 


15 


" albicornis, . 




427 


Xiphydria, 




. 428 


" gigas, . 




424 


" albicornis. 




428 


" Juvencus, . 


. 424 


427 


'< mellipes. 




. 429 


" nitidus, 


• 


427 


Xyleutes Cossus, 
•' Robinise, 


• 


317 
. 317 


Vanessa, 




238 








•* Antiopa, 


. 


238 


Yponomeutadffi, 


. 


383, 392 


•* C. album, . 




241 


Ypsolophus granellus, . 




. 393 


*' C. argentcum, . 




241 








" Comma, 




241 


Zebra caterpillar, 


. 


351 


" Interrogationis, 




239 


Zeuzera, . 




. 314 


*' Progne, 




241 


Zeuzerians (Zeuzeradte), 


. 


313 


Vanessians (Vanessiadje), 




238 









3477 
X291 



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